Congressional Body Count II

Fewer Democrats are leaving Congress, because that’s what they do; they stay.  I found another article listing those leaving Congress and this one includes Democrats and there are not many. The article reported that 49 total would not be running for Congress in 2018 and that included 15 Democrats and 34 Republicans.

There are more Republican House Reps running for the Senate and Governorships than Democrats. I think this is a pattern that separates the priorities of the Parties.

In the 2016 Presidential race, Republicans had 16 candidates and Democrats had 2. I think Democrats are more interested in holding on to their House and Senate seats than Republicans are. 

In the Senate, all Democrats are remaining and 3 Republicans are leaving. Al Franken isn’t counted, because he had a replacement appointed already. The Republicans who are leaving are Bob Corker TN, Jeff Flake AZ and Orin Hatch UT.

In the House, 8 Democrats are leaving. They are Robert Brady PA, Carol Shea-Porter NH, Gene Green TX, John Delaney MD, Luis Gutierrez IL, Niki Tsongas MA, Ruben Kihuen NV and Sandy Levin MI. 7 others are running for other offices.

There are 22 Republicans leaving the House to actually retire or return to the private sector to do other things. These include:  Trey Gowdy SC, Bill Schuster PA, Blake Farenthold TX, Bob Goodlatte VA, Charles Dent PA, Darrell Issa CA, Dave Reichert WA, David Trott MI, Edward Royce CA, Frank LoBiondo NJ, Gregg Harper MS, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen FL, Jeb Hensarling TX, Jim Bridenstine OK, Joe Barton TX, John Duncan TN, Lamar Smith TX, Lynn Jenkins KS, Patrick Meehan PA, Rodney Freilinghuysen NJ, Sam Johnson TX, Ted Poe, TX

There are 7 Republicans leaving the House to run for Senate including: Evan Jenkins WV, James Renacci OH,  Lou Barletta PA, Luke Messer IN, Marsha Blackburn TN, Martha McSally AZ and Todd Rokita IN.

There are 5 Republicans leaving Congress to run for Governor including: Diane Black TN, Kristi Noem SD, Raul Labrador ID, Ron DeSantis FL, Steve Pearce NM

There were also 5 Republicans who left Congress to join the Trump Administration including Jeff Sessions AG, Tom Price HHS, Mick Mulvaney OMB, Mike Pompeo CIA and Ryan Zinke Interior.

https://ballotpedia.org/List_of_U.S._Congress_incumbents_who_are_not_running_for_re-election_in_2018

Is this a RINO stampede?  There is some evidence that the “establishment” is throwing in the towel and those who remain have embraced the Trump Agenda. The bulk of the Republicans leaving are going off to do other things.

Republicans in Congress who are leaving don’t seem to be concerned about ensuring that Congress remains in Republican hands. They may be overconfident or just pursuing their own pursuits. Republicans who are remaining in Congress are basking in the economic recovery, but continue to be too relaxed.  McConnell is still not ready to dump the 60 vote rule in the Senate and he should be. I’m afraid too many Republicans in Congress are more loyal to the Congress than they are to the country. They need to get tough and shed their “stupid party” moniker.

Democrats in Congress appear to be obsessive about keeping and adding seats. They are likely to pull out the stops in 2018 and continue to hammer harder on their talking points and crank up their obstructionism.

Democrat voters have always been motivated to vote for anybody running on the Democrat ticket. They have a just-in-time supply chain for riots in the street they can initiate in a matter of hours. We have a lot of Congressional Districts that are 50-50 and these seats are always up for grabs.

The 10 Democrat Senators from Red States, who are up for re-election in 2018 might or might not win. 

Norb Leahy, Dunwoody GA Tea Party Leader