Republicans look for advantage as House Democrats opt for retirement over re-election

WASHINGTON — House Democrats seemed to have gotten the message from Tuesday’s elections: The political winds are not blowing in their favor.

After months of delays and stalemates, House Democrats passed the $555 billion infrastructure bill within days, a measure political prognosticators told them could help reverse the tide of Republican success in elections.

But Republican Glenn Youngkin’s win in the Virginia governor’s race is likely to have made a lot more Democrats nervous about the ease with which they’ll be able to hold on to their seats.

And there is nervousness in some Democratic quarters that the warning will be heeded by some lawmakers in a different way: They’ll give up and retire instead of running for re-election.

Retirements in the House have become a hallmark of a party that is expecting to lose power. The logic is often the same: Why stick around and fight another re-election battle if your party won’t have any power come the next year?

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The number of House Democrats who have already decided to retire or run for another office has steadily been increasing, compounding the party’s woes for next year’s midterm elections. (Read more)