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| Democrat Andy Kim (left) and Republican incumbent U.S. Rep. Tom MacArthur face off at the South Jersey Chamber of Commerce meeting in Mouth Laurel. (Emma Lee/WHYY) |
Michael Catallini reports for The Associated Press:
New Jersey Republican Rep. Tom MacArthur and Democratic challenger Andy Kim sparred Tuesday over who could bring greater bipartisanship to Washington and clashed over taxes and health care in their first head-to-head forum in one of New Jersey’s most-watched congressional races.
MacArthur and Kim met in a roughly hour-long and at times pointed forum in Mount Laurel sponsored by the Chamber of Commerce of Southern New Jersey.
The 3rd Congressional District election on Nov. 6 is being closely watched as a potential Democratic pickup opportunity as the party aims to net 24 seats and win control from Republicans.
The event gave Kim, who is seeking his first elected office, a chance to introduce himself to voters in the district where he grew up and is now raising his two young sons.
He cast his experience from 2013 to 2015 as Democratic President Barack Obama’s Iraq director on the National Security Council as a proving ground for finding nonpartisan solutions to problems.
“What my campaign has been about from day one is working for a government that’s going have solutions,” Kim said.
The event also gave the two-term GOP incumbent MacArthur an opportunity to brandish the bipartisan reputation he’s cultivated since he first won election in 2014. MacArthur cast Kim as part of a resistance-oriented group of Democrats bent on opposing Republican President Donald Trump.
“We don’t need a House that’s obsessed with impeachment. We need pragmatism,” MacArthur said.
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