Our most recent book is The Comeback: The 2024 Elections and American Politics. It includes a chapter on congressional and state elections.
[Sam] Graves [R-TN] is among a wave of lawmakers leaving Congress after this term, with more than 50 House members announcing they won’t seek another term—recently hitting a record for a midterm election. About half of those members are seeking a different elected office.
As of this morning, 36 of 57 House retirees are Republicans.
Some of the GOP retirees are retiring because of the prospect of losing their seats (e.g., Issa, a casualty of the CA gerrymander). But Graves and others have safe seats. Why are they in the departure lounge? One reason is that they expect their party to lose the majority, and they know it is unpleasant to serve in the House minority.
