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More
Members
of
Congress
Are
Retiring,
Many
Citing
Dysfunction
By Kayla
Guo
nytimes.com
Members
of
Congress
Head for
the
Exits,
Many
Citing
Dysfunction
More
than
three
dozen
incumbents
have
announced
they
will not
seek
re-election
next
year.
Some are
running
for
other
offices,
while
others
intend
to leave
Congress
altogether.
Senator
Joe
Manchin
is one
of
several
lawmakers
in key
districts
retiring
after
the
current
legislative
term.Credit...Haiyun
Jiang
for The
New York
Times
Eleven
are
running
for the
Senate.
Five for
state or
local
office.
One for
president
of the
United
States.
Another
is
resigning
to
become a
university
president.
And more
and more
say they
are
hanging
up their
hats in
public
office
altogether.
More
than
three
dozen
members
of
Congress
have
announced
they
will not
seek
re-election
next
year,
some to
pursue
other
offices
and many
others
simply
to get
out of
Washington.
Twelve
have
announced
their
plans
just
this
month.
The wave
of
lawmakers
across
chambers
and
parties
announcing
they
intend
to leave
Congress
comes at
a time
of
breathtaking
dysfunction
on
Capitol
Hill,
primarily
instigated
by House
Republicans.
The
House
G.O.P.
majority
spent
the past
few
months
deposing
its
leader,
waging a
weekslong
internal
war to
select a
new
speaker
and
struggling
to keep
federal
funding
flowing.
Right-wing
members
have
rejected
any
spending
legislation
that
could
become
law and
railed
against
their
new
leader
for
turning
to
Democrats,
as his
predecessor
did, to
avert a
government
shutdown.
The
chaos
has
Republicans
increasingly
worried
that
they
could
lose
their
slim
House
majority
next
year, a
concern
that
typically
prompts
a rash
of
retirements
from the
party in
control.
But it
is not
only
G.O.P.
lawmakers
who are
opting
to
leave;
Democrats,
too, are
rushing
for the
exits,
with
retirements
across
parties
this
year
outpacing
those of
the past
three
election
cycles.
And
while
most of
the
departures
announced
so far
do not
involve
competitive
seats,
given
the slim
margins
of
control
in both
chambers,
the
handful
that
provide
pickup
opportunities
for
Republicans
or
Democrats
could
help
determine
who
controls
Congress
come
2025.
“I like
the
work,
but the
politics
just no
longer
made it
worth
it,”
Representative
Earl
Blumenauer,
Democrat
of
Oregon,
said in
an
interview.
He
announced
his
retirement
last
month
after
more
than a
quarter-century
in the
House.
“I think
I can
have
more
impact
on a
number
of
things I
care
about if
I’m not
going to
be
bogged
down for
re-election,”
Mr.
Blumenauer
said.
Image
Representative
Earl
Blumenauer,
Democrat
of
Oregon,
is
retiring
after
more
than 25
years in
the
House.
“I like
the
work,
but the
politics
just no
longer
made it
worth
it,” he
said.Credit...Al
Drago
for The
New York
Times
As
lawmakers
consider
their
futures
in
Congress,
they are
weighing
the
personal
sacrifice
required
to be
away
from
loved
ones for
much of
the year
against
the
potential
to
legislate
and
advance
their
political
and
policy
agendas.
In this
chaotic
and
bitter
environment,
many are
deciding
the
trade-off
is
unappealing.
This
session,
said
Representative
Dan
Kildee,
Democrat
of
Michigan,
has been
the
“most
unsatisfying
period
in my
time in
Congress
because
of the
absolute
chaos
and the
lack of
any
serious
commitment
to
effective
governance.”
Mr.
Kildee,
who has
served
in
Congress
for a
decade,
said he
decided
not to
seek
re-election
after
recovering
from a
cancerous
tumor he
had
removed
earlier
this
year. It
made him
re-evaluate
the time
he was
willing
to spend
in
Washington,
away
from his
family
in
Michigan.
The
dysfunction
in the
House
majority
only
made the
calculation
easier.
“That
has
contributed
to the
sense of
frustration,”
he said,
“and
this
feeling
that the
sacrifice
we’re
all
making
in order
to be in
Washington,
to be
witness
to this
chaos,
is
pretty
difficult
to
make.”
Representative
Anna G.
Eshoo,
Democrat
of
California,
also
announced
she
would
end her
three-decade
career
in
Congress
at the
close of
her
current
term.
One of
her
closest
friends
in
Congress,
Representative
Zoe
Lofgren,
another
California
Democrat,
told her
hometown
news
site,
San Jose
Spotlight,
that
there
was
speculation
that Ms.
Eshoo
was
leaving
“because
the
majority
we have
now is
nuts —
and they
are.”
But Ms.
Lofgren
added
that
“that’s
not the
reason;
she felt
it was
her time
to do
this.”
Image
Representative
Anna G.
Eshoo
appears
in front
of a
Capitol
lectern
and
gavel,
with her
hands
clasped.
The
Democrat
of
California,
also
announced
she
would
end a
three-decade
career
in
Congress.Credit...Erin
Schaff/The
New York
Times
Some
House
Republicans
have
reached
the
limits
of their
frustration
with
their
own
party.
Representative
Ken
Buck,
Republican
of
Colorado,
announced
he would
not seek
re-election
after
his
dissatisfaction
and
sense of
disconnect
with the
G.O.P.
had
grown
too
great.
Mr.
Buck,
who
voted to
oust
Representative
Kevin
McCarthy
from the
speakership,
has
denounced
his
party’s
election
denialism
and many
members’
refusal
to
condemn
the Jan.
6, 2021,
attack
on the
Capitol.
“We lost
our
way,”
Mr. Buck
told The
New York
Times
this
month.
“We have
an
identity
crisis
in the
Republican
Party.
If we
can’t
address
the
election
denier
issue
and we
continue
down
that
path, we
won’t
have
credibility
with the
American
people
that we
are
going to
solve
problems.”
Representative
Debbie
Lesko,
Republican
of
Arizona,
said in
a
statement
during
the
speaker
fight
last
month
that she
would
not run
again.
“Right
now,
Washington,
D.C., is
broken;
it is
hard to
get
anything
done,”
she
said.
The
trend
extends
even to
the most
influential
members
of
Congress;
Representative
Kay
Granger,
the
80-year-old
Texas
Republican
who
chairs
the
powerful
Appropriations
Committee,
announced
she
would
retire
at the
end of
her 14th
term.
Even if
her
party
manages
to keep
control
of the
House,
Ms.
Granger,
the
longest-serving
G.O.P.
congresswoman,
faced
term
limits
that
would
have
forced
her from
the helm
of the
spending
panel.
Few of
the
retirements
thus far
appear
likely
to alter
the
balance
of power
in
Congress,
where
the vast
majority
of House
seats
are
gerrymandered
to be
safe for
one
party or
the
other.
Prime
exceptions
include
Senator
Joe
Manchin
III,
Democrat
of West
Virginia,
whose
retirement
will
almost
certainly
mean
that
Republicans
can
claim
the
state’s
Senate
seat and
get a
leg up
to win
control
of that
chamber.
Image
Representative
Abigail
Spanberger
appears
with
children
and
others
in the
Capitol.
Representative
Abigail
Spanberger,
a
Democrat
leaving
her
Virginia
seat to
seek the
governorship,
gives
Republicans
a prime
pickup
opportunity.
But most
retiring
lawmakers
are in
safe
seats.Credit...Kenny
Holston/The
New York
Times
Representative
Abigail
Spanberger
appears
with
children
and
others
in the
Capitol.
And
Representative
George
Santos,
Republican
of New
York,
announced
he would
not seek
re-election
after a
House
Ethics
Committee
report
found
“substantial
evidence”
that he
had
violated
federal
law. His
exit
will
give
Democrats
a chance
to
reclaim
the
suburban
Long
Island
seat he
flipped
to the
G.O.P.
last
year.
Many
others
are
likely
to be
succeeded
by
members
of their
own
party.
Representative
Dean
Phillips,
Democrat
of
Minnesota,
who last
month
announced
a
long-shot
bid to
challenge
President
Biden
for his
party’s
nomination,
said
this
week
that he
would
step
aside to
focus on
that
race.
Mr.
Biden
won his
district
by 21
percentage
points
in 2020,
according
to data
compiled
by Daily
Kos,
making
it all
but
certain
that
Democrats
will
hold the
seat.
Representative
Bill
Johnson,
Republican
of Ohio,
said he
would
accept a
job as
president
of
Youngstown
State
University.
His
seat,
too, is
all but
sure to
be held
by the
G.O.P.;
former
President
Donald
J. Trump
won the
district
by more
than 28
percentage
points
in 2020.
Some
members
not
seeking
re-election
have
determined
they can
affect
more
change
from
outside
Congress,
where
they do
not have
to
contend
with the
same
infighting,
gridlock
and
attention-seeking
that now
frequently
drive
the
place.
“I think
I will
have as
much or
more
impact
as a
civilian
as I
would as
a member
of
Congress,
especially
having
to be
involved
in a
pretty
toxic
political
environment,”
Mr.
Blumenauer
said.
Lawmakers
typically
do not
choose
to leave
office
when
their
party
looks
poised
to
regain
power in
the next
election
cycle,
and
Democrats
see an
opening
to
regain
the
House
majority
next
year.
But Mr.
Blumenauer,
who
would be
a senior
member
of the
powerful
Ways and
Means
Committee
should
his
party
win the
House,
said he
would
rather
not
sacrifice
time
with his
family.
“It’s
tempting,”
said Mr.
Blumenauer.
“I’m
going to
continue
working
on the
things I
care
about,
but with
a
renewed
commitment
to
family,
friends
and
fun.”
Robert
Jimison
contributed
reporting.
A
version
of this
article
appears
in print
on Nov.
27,
2023,
Section
A, Page
1 of the
New York
edition
with the
headline:
Backing
Away
From
Congress
By the
Dozens.
Order
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