MacArthur loses New Jersey House race to Democratic challenger Andy Kim

Rep. Tom MacArthur (R-N.J.) lost his seat to Democratic challenger Andy Kim on Wednesday, resulting in a near-wipeout for the GOP in the state, The Associated Press reported.

With MacArthur’s loss, Democrats successfully flipped four Republican seats in New Jersey in the midterm elections this year, some of which had been held by the GOP for decades. 

{mosads}Come January, there will only be one Republican congressman from New Jersey — Rep. Chris Smith, who easily won reelection in a Republican-friendly district. 

MacArthur’s race was considered a toss-up, though President Trump won the district by 6 points in 2016. 

Kim, a former national security official, said he was inspired to run because of MacArthur’s role in helping House Republicans pass a bill that would have repealed and replaced ObamaCare.

Viral videos from a MacArthur town hall last year foreshadowed what was to come: angry voters berated him for authoring an amendment that helped Republicans secure the votes necessary to get the bill through the House.

MacArthur also faced criticism for being the only New Jersey Republican to vote for the GOP’s tax bill, which capped state and local tax deductions at $10,000. 

New Jersey, which has some of the highest property taxes in the country, is one of the states that benefited most from unlimited deductions on state and local taxes.