U.S. House of Representatives
in 2004
Elections Garrett unsuccessfully challenged incumbent Congresswoman
Marge Roukema in the 1998 and 2000 Republican primaries, on both occasions running well to the right of Roukema, a leading moderate Republican. In 2002, Roukema retired and Garrett won a contested five-way primary with 46% of the vote over State Assemblyman
David C. Russo and
State Senator Gerald Cardinale. Of the three major candidates, Garrett was the only one from the more rural western portion of the district, while Russo and Cardinale were both from
Bergen County. Although Bergen was the most populous county in the district, Russo and Cardinale split the vote there, while Garrett dominated his base in the western portion of the district. In the 2002 general election, Garrett faced
Democratic candidate Anne Sumers, an
ophthalmologist and former Republican. Garrett beat Sumers with 60% of the vote. Garrett was reelected in 2004 with 58% of the vote. In
2006, Garrett defeated Republican primary opponent Michael Cino. In the
November 2006 general election, Garrett defeated Paul Aronsohn, a former employee of the
U.S. State Department during the
Clinton Administration, to win a third term. Garrett defeated Democrat Dennis Shulman 56%–42% in the
2008 general election. In
2010, Garrett defeated Tod Theise, receiving 65% of the vote. In
2012, Garrett defeated Democrat Adam Gussen with 55% of the vote. In
2014, Garrett defeated Democratic nominee Roy Cho with 55% of the vote. Redistricting after the 2010 census made the 5th slightly more Democratic, as it gained heavily Democratic
Hackensack and
Teaneck.
John McCain carried the old 5th with 54 percent of the vote in 2008, but would have only won the new 5th with 50.5 percent of the vote.
2016 Garrett ran for re-election in
2016 as the Republican candidate, besting Michael Cino and Peter Vallorosi in the primary. He faced former Clinton administration speechwriter
Josh Gottheimer, who was unopposed in the Democratic primary. In an article published by
OpenSecrets, Garrett was revealed to be heavily reliant on the financial sector to fund his campaign. In 2015, it was reported that Garrett stated he would not pay dues to the NRCC because they had supported openly gay candidates. Gottheimer and national Democratic groups used these comments to attack Garrett as too socially conservative for the district, while Wall Street firms that had donated to Garrett for years reduced their contributions. Gottheimer won the general election on November 8, 2016, with 50.5% of the vote to Garrett's 47.2%. While Garrett carried three of the four counties in the district, he could not overcome a 33,800-vote deficit in the district's share of Bergen County; he lost overall by 14,900 votes.
Committee assignments •
Committee on the Budget •
Committee on Financial Services •
Subcommittee on Capital Markets and Government-Sponsored Enterprises (chairman) •
Subcommittee on Insurance, Housing and Community Opportunity Caucus memberships •
Congressional Constitution Caucus (chairman)
Legislation On May 8, 2013, Garrett introduced the
Budget and Accounting Transparency Act of 2014 (H.R. 1872; 113th Congress), a bill that would modify the budgetary treatment of federal credit programs. The bill would require that the cost of direct loans or loan guarantees be recognized in the federal budget on a fair-value basis using guidelines set forth by the
Financial Accounting Standards Board. These programs themselves would not be changed, but how they are accounted for in the
United States federal budget would be. The goal of the bill is to improve the accuracy of how some programs are accounted for in the federal budget. ==Tenure==