Six in One Week....GOP reps bailing

[rareboy]

^ I wonder if he has a safe seat or if it is also now in play?

 

[KaraBulut]

^ I wonder if he has a safe seat or if it is also now in play?

Actually, this one might be interesting. This is Dick Durbin's old district (IL 15th). If you drew a triangle from Chicago to St Louis to Evansville- that's pretty much where this district lies. Historically, it was a 50-50 R-D split district. In the past few years, it's been increasingly leaning Republican.

One factor that might be interesting in 2020: Rural Illinois is the #1 producer of soybeans in the US. Soybean producers have been hit hard by the Chinese tariffs which have caused the price of soybeans to go from $16/bushel to $8/bushel. And there's a fear that China has moved to buying soybeans from other countries like Brazil, so they may not go back to buying Illinois soybeans once the trade war with the US ends.

 

[KaraBulut]

The Texodus continues...

Fifth GOP House member from Texas says he won't run for re-election this cycle [CNN]

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.

While Flores' district between Dallas and Austin is now reliably Republican, Democrats have centered their efforts to expand their House majority by picking up several other seats in the suburbs of the Lone Star state. President Donald Trump won Flores' district in 2016 with 56% of the vote.

 

[TX-Beau]

If only Teddy our Lord and Savior would follow the trend.

 

[KaraBulut]

Not Señor Rafael, yet but another bigwig Republican - 21 terms! - also threw in the towel:

Republican Jim Sensenbrenner announces he won't seek reelection [The Hill]

Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner (R-Wis.) announced he will not seek reelection during an interview with Wisconsin radio host Mark Belling on Wednesday.

The Wisconsin Republican, 76, was first elected to the lower chamber in 1978.

Sensenbrenner become the 13th House Republican to announce plans to retire this year as GOP incumbents adjust to life in the minority after losing the lower chamber last year.

The lawmaker's 5th Congressional District is a Republican stronghold in Wisconsin. Sensenbrenner won reelection in 2018 by a margin of 62 percent to 38 percent over his Democratic opponent.

 

[spunkfunker]

Something must be in the wind. I guess a wave may be about to hit the shores soon.

 

[rareboy]

I think that a lot of the Republicans see that they aren't going to regain the House next year and so their fun is over. It is now just work.

Too bad that most of them are leaving reliably Republican seats though.

 

[KaraBulut]

And another....

GOP struggles with retirement wave [The Hill]

Yet another House Republican is heading for the exits.

Rep. Paul Cook (R-Calif.) announced Tuesday he would leave Congress to run for a seat on the San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors, making him the latest addition to the GOP’s recent wave of retirements fresh off an annual retreat to chart a path to clawing back the majority next year.

 

[rareboy]

Too bad that out of a total of 18 so far that the GOP feels confident that all but one are safe seats. The danger here is that TrumpCo. could get in there and make sure that only Trumpists are running...shifting the GOP farther and farther toward being the party of der Fuhrer.

 

[KaraBulut]

And one of the two Congressmembers under indictment is expected to plead guilty.

Collins resigns from Congress ahead of expected guilty plea [AP]

Rep. Chris Collins, a Republican from western New York, submitted his resignation from Congress on Monday ahead of an expected guilty plea in an insider trading case in which he was accused of leaking confidential information during an urgent phone call made from a White House picnic.

Collins’ resignation will take effect when Congress meets in a brief session on Tuesday, according to a spokesman for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

A federal judge in Manhattan scheduled a hearing for Collins to enter a guilty plea to unspecified charges in the case Tuesday afternoon. A similar hearing has been scheduled Thursday for the congressman’s son, Cameron Collins.

 

[KaraBulut]

And the Texodus continues...

Thornberry of Texas is latest House Republican to retire [AP]

A Texas congressman is the latest House Republican to announce he won’t run for reelection.

Rep. Mac Thornberry, a former chairman of the Armed Services Committee, said he would not seek reelection in 2020.

Thornberry has been a member of Congress since 1994. His district in the Texas Panhandle has been safely Republican and isn’t considered competitive.

He is the 19th House Republican leaving Congress. That includes two members who have resigned and are already gone.

 

[KaraBulut]

Surely, it's just a coincidence...

GOP congressman who was open to impeachment calls it quits [Politico]

Rep. Francis Rooney (R-Fla.), who was the first House Republican express openness to voting to impeach President Donald Trump, announced his retirement on Saturday....

The news came one day after Rooney, a former construction company owner and major GOP donor, told CNN he couldn't dismiss the possibility that the president committed an impeachable offense in his dealings with Ukrainian officials. "I don't think you can rule anything out unless you know all the facts," he said.

Rooney, a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, also called on outgoing Secretary of Energy Rick Perry to comply with a House subpoena and cooperate with the impeachment inquiry.

 

[rareboy]

It is apparently so easy to finally grow a spine when you are cashing in your chips and leaving the casino.

 

[KaraBulut]

And another...

Oregon GOP Rep. Greg Walden won't seek reelection [The Hill]

Rep. Greg Walden (Ore.), the top Republican on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, announced Monday he will not run for another term in Congress, making him the latest GOP lawmaker to head for the doors as 2020 approaches...

The announcement adds to the challenges facing House Republicans as they try to win back the majority next year. Walden is the 20th Republican to say he will forgo reelection to the House in 2020, compared with just seven Democrats.

 

[rareboy]

I suspect his seat is safe in Oregon though,

 

[rareboy]

And at long last, Peter King...

the exit of Mr. King, 75, comes as a growing number of Republicans have decided to retire rather than seek re-election as they eye the grim political realities for their party, including an uphill slog to win back the House in next year’s election and the prospect of sharing a ticket with an unpopular president.

No idea yet though whether the GOP will rush to put a Trumpist in his place...or how safe his seat is.

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/11/...rHj-HHunQrqy0VDucbJRhUaVd8SYwhF-Dowzu1_E-y2Dg

 

[rareboy]

King’s retirement makes him the 20th House Republican to decide not to mount a reelection campaign in 2020. Eight House Democrats are also retiring; according to a Washington Post analysis, most of those Democrats are leaving safely Democratic seats, while about half the Republican seats are safe.

This presents Democrats an opportunity to expand their majority in the House (although they will also have to defend some seats they gained in swing districts in 2018), and also adds to a growing exodus, one that could become reminiscent of the wave of retirements that arrived ahead of the 2018 midterm elections.

A 10 seat pick-up would be great in the House....but a majority in the Senate is critical.

https://www.vox.com/policy-and-poli...pew3Y96dpSe3kpXHS_sBN_ZkScYQMYWifHSlKnHOzeSF4

 

[KaraBulut]

And at long last, Peter King...
No idea yet though whether the GOP will rush to put a Trumpist in his place...or how safe his seat is.

That area on Long Island is heavy on Jewish and Italian constituents. It's a little more blue collar than the far end of LI and it has had a history of subtle racism toward minorities (which is why house prices vary by zip code).

I was always surprised that it had a Republican representative but Peter King has been a fixture there and managed to come in above 50%, although if the Democrats were to run a middle of the road candidate in 2020, there's a good chance that he would have been beaten.

 

[rareboy]

King’s retirement makes him the 20th House Republican to decide not to mount a reelection campaign in 2020. Eight House Democrats are also retiring; according to a Washington Post analysis, most of those Democrats are leaving safely Democratic seats, while about half the Republican seats are safe.

This presents Democrats an opportunity to expand their majority in the House (although they will also have to defend some seats they gained in swing districts in 2018), and also adds to a growing exodus, one that could become reminiscent of the wave of retirements that arrived ahead of the 2018 midterm elections.

A 10 seat pick-up would be great in the House....but a majority in the Senate is critical.

https://www.vox.com/policy-and-poli...pew3Y96dpSe3kpXHS_sBN_ZkScYQMYWifHSlKnHOzeSF4

 

[seven2go]

Not Señor Rafael, yet but another bigwig Republican - 21 terms! - also threw in the towel:

Republican Jim Sensenbrenner announces he won't seek reelection [The Hill]

I can't WAIT for that asshole to leave Washington.
Too bad Ron Con Johnson is still there........ and then there's that asshole who took Paul Cryin' Ryan's place......