When the number of House Democrats announcing retirement started ballooning in the fall of last year up to nearly 20, many observers pointed out that the flood gates truly hadn’t yet opened. By early January, the number was up to 25 House Democratic incumbents not seeking reelection in 2022.
Now, the number bumps up once again, with two more House Democrats announcing they will retire from Congress and not seek reelection in 2022:
The exodus of House Democrats ahead of a challenging midterm election season continued Tuesday, with Rhode Island’s Jim Langevin and California’s Jerry McNerney announcing retirement plans within minutes of each other.
Their decisions bring the number of House Democrats retiring after this term to 20, with eight more running for other offices.
Neither Langevin nor McNerney faced a competitive election in 2020. Nevertheless, their departures were greeted by Republican campaign committees as further proof that House Democratic incumbents think their party will lose the majority.
As noted, neither Langevin nor McNerny were from competitive districts, they probably would have been able to win reelection even in a bad year for the Democrats. The problem, however, is that even if they win, they’d be stuck in the minority party and likely lose committee chairmanships and other perks.
List of House Democrats Retiring in 2022
Here’s the current list of House Democrats not running for reelection in 2022. Some of them are retiring, and others are changing course and choosing to run for another office:
- Ann Kirkpatrick AZ-02 (Retiring)
- Jackie Speier CA-14 )Retiring)
- Karen Bass CA-37 (Running for mayor)
- Lucille Roybal-Allard CA-40 (Retiring)
- Alan Lowenthal CA-47 (Retiring)
- Stephanie Murphy FL-07 (Retiring)
- Val Demings FL-10 (Running for Senate)
- Charlie Crist FL-13 (Running for governor)
- Bobby Rush IL-01 (Retiring)
- Cheri Bustos IL-17 (Retiring)
- John Yarmuth KY-03 (Retiring)
- Anthony Brown MD-04 (Running for attorney general)
- Brenda Lawrence MI-14 (Retiring)
- G.K. Butterfield NC-01 (Retiring)
- David Price NC-04 (Retiring)
- Albio Sires NJ-08 (Retiring)
- Tom Suozzi NY-03 (Running for governor)
- Tim Ryan OH-13 (Running for Senate)
- Peter DeFazio OR-04 (Retiring)
- Conor Lamb PA-17 (Running for Senate)
- Mike Doyle PA-18 (Retiring)
- Eddie Bernice Johnson TX-30 (Retiring)
- Filemon Vela TX-34 (Retiring)
- Peter Welch VT-AL (Running for Senate)
- Ron Kind WI-03 (Retiring)
- Ed Perlmutter CO-07 (Retiring)
- Jim Langevin RI-02 (Retiring)
- Jerry McNerney CA-09 (Retiring)
This list is likely to change with more retirements expected in the coming weeks.
Some of the retirements came naturally from fears of difficult and expensive competitive races. In other cases, redistricting redrew the lines making races more competitive than they were back in 2020:
Stephanie Murphy, a House Democrat who announced her retirement this week, is only 43 years old and has spent five years in Congress. While she won her 2020 reelection by more than 12 points and said she didn’t fear losing her reelection, she was targeted immediately by House Republican groups this cycle– in part because Republicans control the redrawing of her Orlando suburban district.
Six of the 23 members retiring were drawn into districts that either incorporated more Republican voters, worsening their political fortunes, or were pitted against another Democratic incumbent in the same district because their state lost a Congressional seat in the reapportionment dictated by the 2020 Census.
While redistricting and natural movements account for some retirements, a large number of retirements are being driven by President Biden’s approval rating and the poor first-year record he has piled up. The national environment is getting impossible for Democrats with record inflation and ongoing challenges the White House continues to ignore.
Many of these House Democrats have decided that this year will be a futile waste of time and money, and their efforts could better be spent elsewhere rather than trying to defend Biden’s sparse record in 2022.
