Rep. Scott Garrett was defeated for re-election after seven terms in the U.S. House.
WASHINGTON -- Rep. Scott Garrett was the only House incumbent defeated in New Jersey on Election Day, falling to former White House speechwriter Josh Gottheimer in an expensive and nasty race.
Garrett (R-5th Dist.) first won the seat in 2002, succeeding retiring Republican Rep. Marge Roukema, a moderate who often dissented from the party line. She left Congress with a 53 percent favorable rating from the American Conservative Union.
Garrett, on the other hand, was one of the more conservative members of the House Republican conference. His lifetime ACU rating through the end of 2015 was 99 percent.
Garrett concedes to Gottheimer
Garrett left his mark in Washington after 14 years on Capitol Hill. Here are five reasons how.
1. He helped get the first federal aid after Hurricane Sandy.
House Republicans, including those from hurricane-prone states such as Texas and Louisiana, balked at spending $60 million to help New Jersey and other states recover from Hurricane Sandy.
Garrett was the lead sponsor of legislation to increase the Federal Emergency Management Agency's borrowing limit for the National Flood Insurance Program, thus providing a quick infusion of $9.7 million.
The bill, co-sponsored by the entire state delegation, passed Jan. 4, 2013, over the objection of 67 House Republicans, including the current House speaker, Paul Ryan of Wisconsin. It cleared the Senate later that day and was signed into law by President Barack Obama on Jan. 6.
The rest of the $60 million came later, most of it thanks to an amendment sponsored by Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen (R-11th Dist.), on track to chair the House Appropriations Committee in the 115th Congress.
2. He often stood alone with his conservative stances
The state's police and firefighters unions' endorsed Gottheimer after Garrett voted against a $1.1 trillion spending bill that included a permanent extension of the Zadroga Act, which provides health care and compensation for 9/11 first responders..
Garrett supported the Zadroga provision, but not the entire bill, which he said included unnecessary spending and would increase the deficit. He was the only New Jersey lawmaker to vote no.
He also was the only House member from New Jersey to vote against funding the Department of Homeland Security without also rescinding Obama's executive orders allowing millions of unauthorized immigrants, mostly those brought here as children, to live and work in the U.S. without fear of deportation.
And he and Rep. Chris Smith (R-4th Dist.) were the only members of the state's delegation to co-sponsor a bill that would allow groups and individuals to deny service to gay couples on the basis of their religious beliefs.
3. He gave New Jersey a slot on a crucial committee.
Garrett chaired a subcommittee of the House Financial Services Committee, a crucial panel to a state that houses back offices of Wall Street firms and is home to a lot of employees who cross the Hudson River every day to go to work.
Garrett's defeat deprives New Jersey's delegation, already lacking in juice on Capitol Hill, of a leadership position that can be used to advance legislation benefiting the state.
It also means no one from New Jersey sits on that key committee, though new assignments will be made in January and vacancies on the panel could be filled by members from the Garden State.
4. He was a source of campaign cash for fellow Republicans.
The Financial Services Committee long has been a coveted position because banking, insurance and real estate interests have plenty of money to contribute to congressional candidates.
They are the No. 1 spender on federal elections, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, a Washington-based research group.
Veteran lawmakers on the committee, especially those in leadership, are expected to share their financial largesse with less well-financed colleagues.
Garrett formed a leadership political action committee, funded primarily through financial services industry employees, and used it to donate $312,862 to federal candidates in the last four elections.
5. He helped topple a House Speaker
Garrett was the only northeasterner among nine lawmakers -- more interested in ideological purity than deal-making -- who launched the Freedom Caucus in January 2015. Without the caucus members on board, House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) was forced to make compromises with the Democrats to pass budget bills, and he finally threw up his hands and resigned.
The caucus members then refused to support Boehner's apparent successor, Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), denying him the chance to lead the House. The post eventually went to Ryan.
Jonathan D. Salant may be reached at jsalant@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @JDSalant. Find NJ.com Politics on Facebook