By Claude Brodesser-Akner | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com

Should you not run for office in the Garden State if you haven't lived here your whole entire life?

Two New Jersey Republican congressman have begun deploying attacks on opponents they feel have an insufficient Jersey pedigree, in the hopes that people might think so.

"He's a total and complete carpetbagger," said U.S Rep. Leonard Lance, R-7th Dist. of his Democratic opponent Tom Malinowski an interview with NJ Advance Media.

Lance started using the Reconstruction-era insult recently, during an appearance at Zufall Health Center in Dover, where he announced $3.1 million in federal funds for the hospital.

It's an insult that went out with the butter churn and the bayonet, but it's facing a sudden renaissance in the Garden State thanks to some tight races for seats in the U.S. House: "Carpetbagger."

The term actually derives from the style of cheap luggage — originally made out of carpet remnants — favored by Northerners who streamed into the South after the Civil War, driven by hopes of personal economic gain.

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U.S. Rep. Leonard Lance, R-7th Dist.

'He has no knowledge of this congressional district'

"His interest in this Congressional district arose last autumn when he moved into the district exclusively for the purpose of running for Congress," Lance said of Malinowski.

The Republican incumbent argues it is a relevant issue.

"He has no knowledge of this congressional district," the congressman said. "He's chosen not to purchase a home there. He's owned a home in Washington D.C., for 22 years. The house I own is in the congressional district in which I serve."

Mainowski's never paid New Jersey's sky-high property taxes and that is disqualifying, Lance said.

"He certainly doesn't understand the property tax issue."

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Formerly assistant secretary of state under Barack Obama, Tom Malinowski immigrated to New Jersey when he was six, grew up here, and has returned to run for Congress in the 3rd congressional district.

'It's a bit of a silly argument'

Are you a 'carpetbagger' if you grew up in New Jersey?

Malinowski — a former assistant secretary of state in the Obama administration — did grow up in New Jersey, arriving as an immigrant kid from Poland at age 6. He also attended grammar, middle and high school in Princeton before heading off to college in California.

He currently resides in Rocky Hill, a few minutes from the childhood home on Wheatsheaf Lane in which his mom still resides. But since college, he's mostly lived in Washington D.C. until returning to New Jersey last year.

"I've never been a woman, either," retorted Malinowski on Tuesday. "That doesn't mean I can't fight for women's rights. I'm not a high school student anymore. But that doesn't mean I can't stand up for kids in high school who feel that they're not safe from gun violence. So on its face, it's a bit of a silly argument."

But then again, the 7th congressional district — which covers Hunterdon County as well as slivers of Essex, Morris, Somerset, Union, and Warren — recently became a toss-up, according to the Cook Political Report.

Malinowski says he's renting a home only for financial reasons.

"I can’t afford to buy a house right now, because running for Congress isn’t something comes with a salary," he said. "I can’t afford to buy a new house until I sell my old one. I think most middle class folks in the district can appreciate that."

Similar "carpetbagging" accusations have been flying in another Jersey congressional race where things have been tightening up, even though the word is not actually uttered.

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Rep. Tom MacArthur, R-3rd Dist. (Aristide Economopoulos | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com)

Another unexpectedly tight race triggers carpetbagging accusations

In the 3rd congressional district, which covers most of Burlington County and portions of Ocean County, GOP Rep. Tom MacArthur, R-3rd Dist., has blasted his Democratic opponent Andy Kim with accusations of carpetbagging for months.

It started in April, after the Cook political report moved the 3rd District from "likely Republican" to "lean Republican."

Soon after, MacArthur's campaign released a statement noting that Kim -- a former national security adviser to President Obama -- took a property tax break on his Washington, D.C., condo intended for full-time residents, even though Kim's registered to vote and running for congress here.

"Did Andy Kim lie to get a substantial property tax break on his nearly $1 million condo in Washington, D.C. or did he lie about where he lived so he could register to vote in South Jersey and run for Congress here—which is it?"

Kim's campaign responded by saying that the D.C. tax break was automatic, that he paid it back after discovering it, and that if anyone is guilty of carpetbagging, it's MacArthur.

“Unlike multi-millionaire Tom MacArthur, who owns multiple expensive homes outside the district and moved here from North Jersey just to run for Congress, Andy grew up in this district and is raising his family in this community,” Kim campaign manager Zack Carroll said in a statement released at the time.

MacArthur himself moved from North Jersey to run for Congress.

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Democrats have used it to attack other Democrats

In the 4th congressional district -- which covers most of Monmouth County and parts of Mercer and Ocean, too -- eventual Democratic nominee Josh Welle was targeted with a "carpetbagger" attack ad during the primary by his rival, Jim Keady, who also used the word to bash Welle.

Welle grew up in Wall Township and left his childhood home to attend the U.S. Naval Academy. After four deployments in Asia, Africa and the Middle East, he he returned to the U.S. and lived in Virginia for years, where he founded a software company.

Welle bought a home in Rumson last year, but only moved back to New Jersey from the Washington, D.C., area a month after announcing his candidacy last September -- something his Democratic opponent Keady tried -- but failed -- to successfully use against him.

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When 'carpetbagger' really means something else

Experts say the messaging reflects a nationwide trend toward more divisive politics.

"The national Republican party views this as an important strategy for building momentum around the president's agenda," said Brigid Harrison, a professor of political science at Montclair State University."

At the same time, it is starting to recognize that you can't use that kind of divisive language in a state like New Jersey, but they want to keep up the rhetoric of 'us vs. them' language, and the use of the word 'carpetbagger' against people who have longstanding connections to an area is an example of that."

Kim's campaign declined to comment, but it's clearly taking the attacks seriously: When you Google Kim's campaign website, the very first sentence emphasizes his Jersey roots.

"I grew up in New Jersey's Third District," reads Kim's bio. "It's where I hit my first home run, earned my first paycheck, and received an incredible public school education..."

Kim currently rents a home in Bordentown, and his parents still live in nearby Marlton, he doesn't own a home in New Jersey. Meanwhile, MacArthur's campaign spokesman, Chris Russell, has been using what some experts is coded language to mark the New Jersey native as an outsider, branding him "a San Francisco liberal" who "couldn't be more out of touch on every major issue facing our community."

Chris Russell, a MacArthur campaign strategist, dismissed Harrisson's analysis as misleading. "It's about Nancy Pelosi," said Russell. "San Francisco is widely considered to be ultra-liberal. So is Andy Kim."

"That's an intentionally designed, subtle form of racism," said Harrison "Everyone knows exactly what they mean but they phrase it in a way that gives them plausible deniability. When they say, 'San Francisco,' they're obviously referring to the historic relationship between the Asian community and that city, and to the imprimatur of 'gayness' associated with the city. They manage to be simultaneously racist and homophobic and deny that they're any of those things."

Russell insisted MacArthur's campaign didn't mean to paint Kim a carpetbagger.

"We've said that he took an illegal tax break. He claimed a property tax break meant for Washington DC, moved, and still took the tax break. I can't speak for Leonard Lance's campaign, but our attack hasn't so much been carpetbagger, but that he availed himself of a tax break that he's not entitled to by law."

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Andy Kim, a Democrat who grew up in Marlton and today lives in Bordentown is running for Congress against Republican U.S. Rep. Tom MacArthur.

Why the attack still matters today...especially for minority candidates

Regardless of the MacArthur's campaign's intent, researchers have shown that ethnic and racial minority candidates for Congress are have long been mis-perceived by white voters, hurting their chances at the ballot box.

"In our study, we found that Democratic minority candidates are perceived as being more liberal than non-minorities by independent and Republican voters," said Sarah Anne Gershon, a professor at Georgia State University. "Those perceptions impact vote choice. As a result, Democratic minority candidates' chances of winning may be negatively affected, particularly in places where independents and Republicans are plentiful."

In her analysis of the nation's House races in 2006, independents were a whopping 25.5 percent less likely to support a Democratic candidate when the candidate was a racial minority.

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Locals only?

Kim is only renting a home here in New Jersey, as is Malinowski.

The latter's lack of home ownership has been central to Lance's attacks.

"I have nothing against renters," said Lance. "Lots of people rent, for all kinds of reasons. But it's inexplicable to me how someone can parachute into a place where he never lived and run for Congress."

Somewhat awkwardly, however, that perfectly describes Lance's fellow New Jersey Republican candidate for Congress, Steve Lonegan.

The former mayor of the Bergen County town of Bogota, Lonegan is currently running against Democratic Rep. Josh Gottheimer in the 5th District, having previously run for Congress in both the 3rd district in 2014 and the 9th congressional district in 1998.

What does Lance think about that? Is Lonegan a 'total carpetbagger,' too?

"Well, he's not been successful," answered Lance.

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More Congressional election coverage below...

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Claude Brodesser-Akner may be reached at cbrodesser@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @ClaudeBrodesser. Find NJ.com Politics on Facebook.

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