Mar 20 2008
Don’t trip over the other rats on your way off the ship
Tom Reynolds expected to announce retirement on Thursday
Add Representative Tom Reynolds of New York’s 26th Congressional district to the growing list of Republican congressional resignations and retirements, he is number 29 on the list of Representatives, in addition to 5 senators that will be stepping down. This mass defection does not bode well for the Republicans if they’re planning on taking back the majority of the House of Representatives in November’s election. It’s true that some of these districts are very solidly Republican and will not flip, but having defend so many seats will certainly stress their resources. Here is the list of Republicans we won’t have to kick around any longer:
Sen. Wayne Allard (CO)
Rep. Richard Baker (LA)
Sen. Larry Craig (ID)
Rep. Barbara Cubin (WY)
Rep. Tom Davis (VA)
Sen. Pete Domenici (NM)
Rep. John Doolittle (CA)
Rep. Terry Everett (AL)
Rep. Mike Ferguson (NJ)
Rep. Wayne Gilchrest (MD) – lost his primary
Sen. Chuck Hagel (NE)
Rep. David Hobson (OH)
Rep. Kenny Hulshof (MO)
Rep. Duncan Hunter (CA)
Rep. Ray LaHood (IL)
Rep. Tom Lantos (CA)
Rep. Ron Lewis (KY)
Rep. Jim McCrery (LA)
Rep. Steve Pearce (NM) – running for senate
Rep. John Peterson (PA)
Rep. Charles “Chip” Pickering (MS)
Rep. Deborah Pryce (OH)
Rep. Jim Ramstad (MN)
Rep. Ralph Regula (OH)
Rep. Rick Renzi (AZ)
Rep. Tom Reynolds (NY)
Rep. James Saxton (NJ)
Rep. Tom Tancredo (CO)
Rep. James Walsh (NY)
Sen. John Warner (VA)
Rep. Dave Weldon (FL)
Rep. Jerry Weller (IL)
Rep. Heather Wilson (NM) – running for senate
I debated including the Reps that are resigning in order to run for the Senate, but since both of them are running for the same Senate seat, the best case scenario (from their perspective, not mine) is that one of them will be out of a job in the end.
It’s probably also worth noting that, in addition to the five Republican senators that are stepping down, Ted Stevens of Alaska will be running for re-election in the midst of being investigated for bribery. Granted, it is Alaska, but you never know. I personally would have loved it if Mike Gravel capitalized on his popularity from the presidential election by challenging Stevens. You can’t tell me that a debate between those two crazy coots wouldn’t have been insanely fun to watch.
