Dropping like flies
After House Republican Debbie Lesko abruptly announced her retirement during the Speaker battle, Palmer Report predicted there would be a string of similar retirements. Sure enough, House Republicans Ken Buck and Kay Granger have now announced their retirements as well. It’s a sinking House GOP ship and they all want out.
What’s interesting is that three House districts are all far right, so it’s not like any of them had to worry about losing reelection in 2024. Maybe they were worried about having to deal with a primary challenge from a far right lunatic. Then again, these three pretty are pretty much far right lunatics to begin with.
The thing to watch for will be whether any House Republicans in competitive districts end up retiring as well. House races tend to have something of an incumbency advantage, so a Republican retirement in such a district would make it potentially easier for the Democrats to flip that seat.
In any case, it’s fair to say that with three House Republicans having announced their retirements within the span of about a week, it’s officially a trend. We’ll see how many of them decide to head for the exits. Stay tuned.
