GOP retirements in the House may indicate a "rush to the exits"

[essentialsaltes]

Rep. John Shimkus on Friday joined the growing list of Republicans leaving Congress, announcing that he would not seek reelection in 2020.

The lawmaker from Illinois, who is in his 12th term, said on a local radio program that he would retire at the end of the 116th Congress.

Shimkus is the 14th Republican to announce that he will not run next year, will resign or will seek a different office. Over the six-week congressional recess, a group of Republicans in increasingly competitive districts — including three Texans who won reelection by fewer than five percentage points in 2018 — decided to retire rather than face difficult contests.

Shimkus, however, won reelection by a landslide last year and hails from a GOP stronghold. His seat is expected to stay in Republican hands.

 

[rambot]

Here an idea:

Instead of term limits, say that if someone loses an election they do not receive a pension. If they retire from office they may.

I wonder how that would effect the political landscape?

 

[Fantine]

I don't blame them for wanting to leave. Serving under such a president, and feeling compelled to support him no matter how corrupt or callous the proposed policies are, must be soul-searing.

Unfortunately, the ones most likely to leave are often those who haven't completely sold out and who would, in ideal circumstances, fight to purge their party of its evil influences.

 

[TLK Valentine]

Three House Republicans said last week they would not seek another term next year, catching party strategists off guard. Those announcements came earlier than in a typical election cycle, when members who are ready to hang up their voting cards usually wait until after the August recess or after the Christmas break.

Six Republicans have now said they will not seek reelection next year.

“Moving from the majority to the minority changes your mindset about why am I here, am I getting things done,” Davis said. “It’s a very frustrating life for some of these members right now.

Not so fun when it's work without power, is it?

The job of serving in Congress itself has changed in recent years. Members of Congress now routinely skip town hall meetings to avoid being confronted by angry constituents,

When you have to hide from the very people who you're there to serve, your odds of re-election seem pretty slim...

they are frequently asked to defend President Trump’s Twitter habits and the House Republican Conference is increasingly influenced by a small group of hard-right conservatives.

How difficult can it be? Just use one or more of the general all-purpose Donald defenses:

1: He didn't say it,
2: He didn't mean it,
3: He's right.

“Serving in the era of Trump has few rewards. He has made an already hostile political environment worse. Every day there is some indefensible tweet or comment to defend or explain. It is exhausting and often embarrassing,” the member of Congress said.

Serving Donald isn't for the faint of heart...

Being the incumbent is one of the strongest factors in your favor in an election. With retirements like these, the GOP is losing that factor.

Gerrymandering only gets you so far...

 

[mark46]

2024 seems most likely for both parties

Both parties have some cracks in their infrastructure. We could be approaching an institutional shift. No one can know if or when, but it wouldn't surprise me.

 

[mark46]

Republican House members have gotten used to being in power. Being in the minority isn't much fun at all. There is really relatively little to do. In the Senate, the power and work is much more divided, although the Majority Leader obviously has an enormous amount of power.

Add that to being a minority member under Trump, who doesn't even represent the beliefs of your party. Many are deciding that there must be a better way to serve the country and the people.

 

[Nithavela]

If anything, it is something "the Left" learned from "the Right" during the Clinton and Obama administrations. Politics in the US is toxic currently and both sides are to blame.

Oh no, you did the mistake. You made a reasoned response. Now he'll smell blood and attack even harder.

 

[KCfromNC]

So this senate member indicates, very clearly, that Trump is the cause of the problem:
" He has made an already hostile political environment worse. Every day there is some indefensible tweet or comment to defend or explain. It is exhausting and often embarrassing"

Root cause here is that GOP senators feel it is there job to defend Donald. If they'd just get over that and get back to actually governing I'm sure their stress levels would be more manageable. But no, the have to let Moscow Mitch have his way with the legislative process.

This is my complete lack of sympathy for their self-inflicted problems.

 

[KCfromNC]

Unfortunately, the ones most likely to leave are often those who haven't completely sold out and who would, in ideal circumstances, fight to purge their party of its evil influences.

If they're not doing so when it counts it isn't much of a loss. Especially if their replacement moves the control of the senate away from the people who have completely sold out.

 

[essentialsaltes]

GOP Rep. Bill Flores announced Wednesday his plans to retire from Congress at the end of his term, becoming the fifth Texas Republican to do so this election cycle.

Flores won his first election in 2010 by defeating a Democrat during President Barack Obama's first midterm election and rose to become a chairman of the conservative Republican Study Committee.

 

[essentialsaltes]

Truly, he is of retirement age, but...

Rep. F. James Sensenbrenner Jr., who has served in Congress for 40 years and is the second-most senior House member, announced Wednesday that he won’t seek reelection, joining more than a dozen Republicans heading for the exits.

The 76-year-old Wisconsin lawmaker becomes the highest-ranking Republican to say he would step down at the end of his term, part of a growing wave of retirements that suggest GOP pessimism about regaining the House majority in 2020.

Republicans will be favored to hold the Wisconsin seat as Donald Trump handily won the district by 20 percentage points in 2016 and Sensenbrenner rarely had a tough race.

Sensenbrenner joined two of his colleagues in calling it quits on Wednesday alone, making him the 16th House Republican to announce he would not seek reelection in 2020. By contrast, only four Democrats have announced plans to voluntarily exit the chamber, which their party controls, with Rep. Susan A. Davis of Southern California adding her name to that list with an announcement Wednesday.

 

[essentialsaltes]

Georgia Senator Isakson resigning for health reasons.

Not a moment too soon, it appears.

Senator Johnny Isakson of Georgia told retired Colonel Patricia Hastings that she could take extra time during a hearing because she was "so pretty," according to a video of the testimonies.

 

[iluvatar5150]

Not a moment too soon, it appears.

Senator Johnny Isakson of Georgia told retired Colonel Patricia Hastings that she could take extra time during a hearing because she was "so pretty," according to a video of the testimonies.

lol jeez

 

[essentialsaltes]

Texas Rep. Mac Thornberry, the top Republican on the House Armed Services Committee, on Monday announced that he will not seek reelection.

Thornberry's decision marks the sixth Texas Republican to retire from Congress this year.

Overall, House Republicans have seen 18 retirements in addition to Thornberry since the start of the 116th Congress

His district is solidly red.

 

[essentialsaltes]

LINK

Monday's retirement announcement by Republican Rep. Greg Walden of Oregon barely caused a ripple in the national news cycle, other than to note that he is the 15th GOPer retiring from the House without seeking another office at the end of 2020.

But while Walden may not be a household name in national political circles, his retirement is a telling signal of how likely Republicans believe they are to retake the House majority they lost in the 2018 midterm elections. In short: Not very likely. At all.

Walden is the top Republican on the House Energy and Commerce Committee. And he has time left on his chairmanship. (Republicans have a six-year term limit on committee chairmanships.) Meaning that if Republicans took back the majority in the 2020 election, Walden would run one of the most powerful committees in the House for two more years.

 

[rambot]

Not so fun when it's work without power, is it?



When you have to hide from the very people who you're there to serve, your odds of re-election seem pretty slim...



How difficult can it be? Just use one or more of the general all-purpose Donald defenses:

1: He didn't say it,
2: He didn't mean it,
3: He's right.



Serving Donald isn't for the faint of heart...



Gerrymandering only gets you so far...

I'd argue that his supporters don't dare to invoke or assume what Donald means or says.
Instead what they say is
" You the critic didn't understand what he meant"
" You the critic are making up words he didn't say
" Trump is right

It's often about us, not Donald when it comes to them defending donald. And I get it;it's reprehensible stuff...

 

[cow451]

Actually, this could be a good thing. Stronger conservatives with more backbone could be the result. The minority party always matters. Usually Presidents, Senators and cabinet members rise from their ranks.

The GOP is clearly short on backbone!

 

[essentialsaltes]

Peter King (R-NY) makes it an even 20 GOP Congresscritters not seeking reelection.

 

[rjs330]

Thanks, Trump.

Actually thanks to the liberals/progressives It's aopears they were the ones causing the problems.

 

[rjs330]

Exhibit A.

Rep. Scott Perry held a town hall in a 200-person capacity firehouse. Only 60 were allowed in.

“I’m a constituent of Scott Perry’s. I got an email alert mentioning the town hall and asking for an RSVP. I responded in less than five minutes but was put on a waiting list. I found it kind of funny that the town hall was already full,” said Tracy Brown, an activist with Hershey Indivisible Team told CQ Roll Call.

Perry faced a hostile crowd at his last town hall in 2017.

More evidence of the hostile/vitriol of the left.