That’s an awful lot of retirements. Not that I particularly blame them. Politics is a sewer right now and anyone can be forgiven for not wanting to be a part of it. Of course there are more than few who are probably just cashing in and other have announced for other offices. But I suspect that plenty of them just want out.
Like no time in recent memory, lawmakers are setting their sights anywhere but Capitol Hill — setting the stage for crucial midterm elections that will feature fewer incumbents than usual and ensure more fresh faces in Congress next year.
As of late February, 68 Senate and House members have said they will not seek reelection. An unprecedented 31 of those lawmakers have filed to run for another office. In some cases, members exiting the House are hoping to enter the Senate. In others, lawmakers are seeking to return home as governor.
While looming midterms often prompt a swell of retirements, the number of announced departures at this point in the election cycle is notably higher than in other recent cycles, according to a Washington Post analysis.
“It looks like we’re heading toward a record number,” said Sarah Binder, a political science professor at George Washington University and a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution. Some who are leaving Capitol Hill are frustrated with how little is getting done. In recent terms,Congress has passed the fewest number of bills that have become lawsince the early 1900s. Lawmakers largely attribute the inability to legislate tobitterly partisan politics, intraparty feuds and narrow majorities that make it difficult for leaders to compromise without backlash from influential corners of their caucuses.
Partisan gridlock makes it hard for people with ambition to actually do something. And dealing with a president like Trump, who thinks he is a dictator and has little interest in working with Congress, has to be frustrating.
I also thing that when it comes to the Democrats anyway, there is a hunger for generational change that has quite a few of the elder statesmen finally throwing in the towel. It’s time.