(JustPatriots.com)- The early stories regarding the 2022 midterm elections were the large number of retirement announcements from incumbent Republican members of Congress. That had Democrats very hopeful that they could flip seats and retain control of both chambers.
Now, though, the script has flipped. Recent retirement announcements from incumbent Democrats have liberals worried — especially because they are coming from districts that former President Donald Trump won in the 2020 presidential election.
In April, Illinois Representative Cheri Bustos announced she wouldn’t seek re-election. Last week, Wisconsin Representative Ron Kind announced he wouldn’t seek what would be his 14th term in the 2022 midterms.
As The Hill reported, these recent retirement announcements have Democrats fearing that Republicans could easily win these districts — and potentially more — since they were GOP strongholds in the 2020 presidential election.
Democrats only have a slight majority in the House and a technical majority in the Senate. They can’t afford to lose many seats in the House — and can’t lose any seats in the Senate — if they want to retain control of the next Congress.
The Hill quoted a strategist for the Democratic Party who has worked on races for the House:
“I think there’s a feeling that, in some of these districts, without the incumbents, it becomes that much harder. We’re still talking about swing districts here. But, I can’t imagine this is how anyone wanted the midterms to go down.”
These two retirements are already concerning to Democrats, and it’s possible that more retirement announcements in Trump districts could come before the 2022 midterms are here.
Iowa Representative Cindy Axne, for example, hasn’t decided whether she’ll run for re-election. If she doesn’t, she may seek out a term as the governor of Iowa. She already ruled out running for the Senate.
Axne recently told reporters:
“I’m still looking at some options that are out there. Certainly, my No. 1 job is to make sure that Iowa has the best representation possible, whether that’s at the state or federal level for the issues that we need.”
And Democrats have more concerns than just those. Incumbent Representatives Tim Ryan from Ohio and Charlie Crist aren’t running for re-election as they seek the governorship in their states. In addition, Democratic Representatives Val Demings from Florida and Conor Lamb from Pennsylvania are abandoning the House and running for seats in the Senate.
These are all in addition to the previously-announced retirements by Democratic Representatives Filemon Vela from Texas and Ann Kirkpatrick from Arizona.
All of these departures and retirements are really having Democrats concerned that they could get crushed in the 2022 midterm elections and lose their majority in the lower chamber.
The liberal party already only has a slim majority, after they lost 13 seats in the House in the 2020 elections.
It’s almost always a certainty that a new president’s party will lose seats in the first midterm elections, too, which could spell doom for Democrats in Congress and joy for Republicans.
