Scott Garrett, the New Jersey Republican who chairs a powerful subcommittee on the House Financial Services Committee, narrowly lost his race for re-election Tuesday.
The Associated Press and New York Times called the election for Garrett’s Democratic challenger, former Bill Clinton speechwriter Joshua Gottheimer, after midnight. Gottheimer had nearly 51 percent of the vote to Garrett’s 47 percent with 97 percent of precincts reporting.
Garrett, a member of the conservative Freedom Caucus viewed as one of the furthest-right members of the lower chamber, ran into trouble in this year’s reelection after serving since 2003 as he lost some support from the financial services industry for his socially conservative views on gay marriage.
Garrett’s panel, the subcommittee on Capital Markets and Government-Sponsored Enterprises, has oversight over the Securities and Exchange Commission, as well as the bailed-out mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
Garrett’s opposition to government subsidies and bailouts also made him unpopular among some segments of the finance industry. The National Association of Realtors spent heavily to unseat him, reflecting Garrett’s support for shuttering Fannie and Freddie and paring back the government’s guarantees of mortgage-backed securities.
