WASHINGTON -- Come January, Rep. Chris Smith will stand alone.

Alone in that he will be the only Republican among the 14 lawmakers New Jerseyans will send to the Capitol next year. Alone is in that he doesn't have to find anyone else when he wants to hold a meeting of the state's entire Republican congressional delegation. Alone in that when House Democrats caucus, only one representative from the Garden State won't be in the room.

The blue wave that hit New Jersey on Nov. 6 swept out four of the state's five House Republicans. A delegation evenly divided in 2016, 6-6, is now 11-1 Democratic.

Not only did Democrats flip the districts held by retiring Reps. Frank LoBiondo, R-2nd Dist., and Rodney Frelinghuysen, R-11th Dist., but they also took out Reps. Tom MacArthur, R-3rd Dist., and Leonard Lance, R-7th Dist.

Only Smith, 65, the longest-serving member from New Jersey, survived.

"I always have a quorum," Smith, R-4th Dist., said in an interview outside the House chambers. "But I say that with sadness because we lost some very good people."

Smith, though, won't always be standing by himself.

"When we have a New Jersey delegation meeting and when we have a New Jersey delegation meeting with the governor, he should and must be there," said Rep. Bill Pascrell Jr., D-9th Dist.

He'll still have a role to play with representatives of both parties.

"I have a lot of friends at the caucus from other states," Smith said. "I do work well with the Democrats. I do believe in bipartisanship. Elections should end the day after the election."

Smith has authored 43 laws. The rest of the delegation had a combined total of 41, according to the Library of Congress.

He was named one of the most bipartisan members two years running by Georgetown University's McCourt School of Public Policy and the Lugar Center, a public policy group headed by former U.S. Sen. Richard Lugar, R-Ind.

He was ranked 24th out of 435 members last year, behind only Reps. Josh Gottheimer, D-5th Dist., and Leonard Lance, R-7th Dist., in the state's delegation.

Smith was the fifth biggest dissenter from the Republican Party line in 2017 on votes where a majority of the GOP went one way and a majority of House Democrats went the the other, according to Congressional Quarterly.

"He's a pretty independent guy when it comes down to it," said Rep. Bill Pascrell Jr., D-9th Dist. "He will only be more independent in the future. He's not going to be a sycophant. He never was."

Smith said that his independence might have allowed him to avoid being swept away by the blue wave. He was re-elected with 56 percent of the vote over Josh Welle, a Navy veteran and businessman, who became Smith's first opponent to ever raise more than $1 million. Smith also raised seven figures for the first time in his 20 congressional elections.

His own polling showed that he, like other Republicans, was hurt by New Jersey's antipathy to President Donald Trump.

"I literally had an experience that happened over and over again," Smith said, "where people said we really like you, but this year -- and I don't think it will carry over to next year but you never know. I'm going to make sure it doesn't -- we're sending a message."

Smith acknowledged being helped by his opposition to both of the president's high-profile issues: Trump's efforts to repeal the Affordable Care Act, which would have left as many as 32 million more Americans without insurance, and his tax plan that targeted New Jersey and other high-tax states that send billions of dollars more to Washington than they receive in services by capping the federal deduction for state and local taxes.

"I think I have my own brand," Smith said.

That independence, though, comes with a price. Smith lost the chairmanship of the House Veterans Affairs Committee in 2005 after pushing back against Republican efforts to cut veterans' health care.

Now with the retirement of Ed Royce of California, Smith has the seniority to claim the position of ranking minority member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee -- a post equivalent to the one U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez holds in his chamber -- but said the GOP leadership isn't likely to anoint him.

"I vote my conscience and I vote my district," Smith said. "Conformity for both the Democrat and Republican Party being reliable to a fault is what is highly prized here."

Jonathan D. Salant may be reached at jsalant@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @JDSalant or on Facebook. Find NJ.com Politics on Facebook.