Kim would be third ex-White House staffer in NJ House delegation

If his lead holds, Andy Kim will join an exclusive club of former White House staffers who represents New Jersey in the U.S. House of Representatives.

One-quarter of the New Jersey House delegation would be made up of former White House staffers.

Kim worked in the Obama White House on the national security council staff.

Rep.-elect Tom Malinowski (D-Rocky Hill) served in the Clinton White House on the national security staff.  He defeated five-term incumbent Leonard Lance on Tuesday.  He later served as assistant U.S. Secretary of State.

Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-Wyckoff) was a speechwriter for President Clinton.

Two other Bergen County Democrats went from the White House to Congress.

Bob Torricelli worked for Vice President Walter Mondale and managed Jimmy Carter’s Illinois campaign against Ted Kennedy in the 1980 Democratic primary; and Andy Maguire worked for Lyndon Johnson at the Department of State and at the United Nations.

White House aides don’t always win.

In 1970, when Democrat Jim Howard held the very Republican Monmouth-based House seat, the GOP candidate was Bill Dowd, a 26-year-old former White House staffer for the still-popular Richard Nixon. Howard won 55%-43%. Dowd ran again in 1972, and with Nixon winning 67% in his district, he held Howard to a 53% win. Dowd was getting ready to run again in 1974, but amidst the Watergate scandal, he didn’t bother. Howard won with 69%.

Fred Bohen, a former White House staffer under LBJ, won just 38% against Peter Frelinghuysen in 1972. He ran again in the Watergate year after Frelinghuysen retired, and lost by ten points against Millicent Fenwick.