Wednesday, January 10, 2018

Rats fleeing a sinking ship - part 2

Republicans in Congress, including several powerful committee chairmen, are rushing to retire rather than face re-election in the fall, a clear recognition that President Trump’s low approval rating will be a heavy weight on the party even with an improving economy.

Monday’s retirement announcement by Representative Ed Royce of California, chairman of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, brought to 30 the number of Republicans who either will be leaving office or seeking one other than in the House. Mr. Royce’s announcement punctuated an accelerating trend that leaves his party on treacherous footing in its effort to maintain control of Congress.

[...]

Democrats need to gain 24 seats to control the House.

  NYT
And now we just learned that Darrell Issa is also planning to leave. (Under very suspicious circumstances, in my mind.)
The best argument Republicans can make for maintaining control may be the number of candidates running in heavily gerrymandered, Republican-dominated districts.
And North Carolina just got hit by a court decision because of that very thing and ordered to redraw its districts pronto.
Since 1962, the midterm losses for the president’s party have averaged 40 seats when the president’s approval rating is under 50 percent. Mr. Trump’s numbers are below 40 percent in most polls, the worst of any president at this point in his term in the history of polling. His ratings are also far worse than any first-term president when the unemployment rate is under 5 percent.

[...]

Many of the Republicans who are retiring are among the more moderate members of their party in Congress, such as Representatives Ileana Ros-Lehtinen of Florida and Charlie Dent of Pennsylvania. Many were known for the power of chairing committees or for strong constituent service, or both. Among the retirees are the chairmen of the House Foreign Relations, Judiciary, Financial Services, Transportation and Science committees.
Don't let the door hit you.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

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