Scott Garrett

Ernest Scott Garrett (born July 9, 1959) is an American politician who was the U.S. representative for NJ's 5th congressional district, serving from 2003 to 2017.

He is a member of the Republican Party.

Garrett earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science from Montclair State College in 1981 and a Juris Doctor from Rutgers School of Law–Camden in 1984.

Born in Bergen County in the town of Englewood, Garrett spent much of his life living in North Jersey.

He previously served in the New Jersey General Assembly from 1990 to 2003.

Garrett chaired the United States House Financial Services Subcommittee on Capital Markets and Government-Sponsored Enterprises.

He was elected to the New Jersey General Assembly in 1991, and was re-elected five times, serving from 1992 to 2003, representing the 24th legislative district, which covered all of Sussex County and several municipalities in Morris and Hunterdon counties.

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.

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.

In 2010, Garrett defeated Tod Theise, receiving 65% of the vote.

Redistricting after the 2010 census made the 5th slightly more Democratic, as it gained heavily Democratic Hackensack and Teaneck.

In 2012, Garrett defeated Democrat Adam Gussen with 55% of the vote.

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.

The bill would also require the federal budget to reflect the net impact of programs administered by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

The changes made by the bill would mean that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were counted on the budget instead of considered separately and would mean that the debt of those two programs would be included in the national debt.

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.

Garrett compiled an unshakably conservative voting record.

In 2014, Garrett defeated Democratic nominee Roy Cho with 55% of the vote.

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.

He lost his reelection bid in 2016 to Democrat Josh Gottheimer, becoming the only incumbent Congressman in New Jersey to be defeated that year.

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.

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.

On June 19, 2017, President Donald Trump nominated Garrett to become chairman and president of the Export–Import Bank of the United States, a post that requires confirmation by the United States Senate.

In a 10–13 vote on December 19, 2017, the Senate Banking Committee declined to advance his nomination.

Garrett was subsequently hired into an excepted service position at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's Office of General Counsel.