Democrat defeats controversial chair of House Wall Street subpanel
Democrat Josh Gottheimer is projected to defeat Rep. Scott Garrett, the controversial chairman of a powerful House subcommittee overseeing the financial sector.
{mosads}The projected loss by the Republican comes after Garrett’s stance on same-sex marriage alienated voters in his northern New Jersey district and Wall Street donors that typically showered cash on past chairmen of his subcommittee.
Gottheimer is a Microsoft executive and former speechwriter for President Bill Clinton.
His campaign raised a staggering $4.2 million, which helped propel his bid in a pricey New York suburbs media market. It also made his challenge to Garrett the most expensive House race in New Jersey history. Garrett managed to raise just over $2 million.
Garrett has represented New Jersey’s 5th District since 2003 and chairs the House Financial Services Subcommittee on Capital Markets and Government-Sponsored Enterprises. The influential panel oversees slews of powerful banks and financial firms.
Holding the panel’s chairmanship yields a steady stream of donations from Wall Street, and Garrett’s biggest funders were banks, hedge funds and other financial firms.
But Wall Street donors backed away from Garrett last summer after Politico reported that he refused to donate to the National Republican Campaign Committee.
The report said Garrett, a founding member of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, objected to the GOP House campaign arm’s funding of gay and lesbian candidates.
Garrett has denied the report, insisting that he’d still support candidates who oppose same-sex marriage, which is reflected in the party’s platform.
Many donors from the financial sector, a typically LGBT-friendly industry based in progressive New York City, stopped cutting checks soon after.
It’s unclear who will take the Capital Markets gavel from Garrett. Rep. Robert Hurt (R-Va.), subcommittee vice chairman, is retiring from Congress after this year. Rep. Peter King (R-N.Y.) is the subcommittee’s next-most senior Republican.
Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.), the subcommittee’s ranking Democrat, stands to lead the subpanel if Republicans lose their House majority.
Gottheimer joined the Clinton administration as a speechwriter in 1998. He served as an adviser to Secretary of State John Kerry’s 2004 presidential run and Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton’s first bid in 2008.
Before joining Microsoft as a strategist in 2012, Gottheimer worked for the Federal Communications Commission, public relations firm Burson-Marsteller and Ford Motor Company.
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