Rep. Kenny Marchant (R-DCCC Retirement Watch List) calling it quits, rather than face the toughest race of his political career, makes four Texas Republican retirements in a span of two weeks. Republicans may call it a “feature, not a bug,” but we call it the Texodus.
Not only are these retirements a reaction to the DCCC’s investment in Texas, according to the Cook Political Report, these open seats have shifted the battlefield toward Democrats. Congressman Will Hurd’s retirement in TX-23 shifted that race to “Leans Democratic” and the Cook Political Report now places TX-22 and TX-24 as toss-up seats.
Not only do they face an uphill battle to hold districts in these rapidly changing communities, but as Republicans scramble to recruit candidates to run for these seats, here’s what they’re seeing on TV and reading in the news.
Believe us when we say it: “no one wants to stick around here [including our recruitment chair]” is NOT the most inspiring message to would-be Republican candidates.
Watch for yourself:
MSNBC: Chris Hayes on Republican Retirements
CNN: Chris Cuomo on Rep. Will Hurd’s Retirement
MSNBC: Rep. Will Hurd becomes 6th Republican to Retire in 2 Weeks
KYTX: Fourth Texas Republican Retiring from Congress
Read for yourself:
The Houston Chronicle reports:
“Democrats are trying to scare U.S. Rep. Mike McCaul into retirement, warning they have dirt on the Republican congressman that they’ll release if he sticks around.
“‘The choice before Congressman McCaul is to retire on his own with his reputation partially intact or endure a long and expensive 15 months of public vetting and watching his record get picked apart before the voters,’ Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee spokesman Avery Jaffe said in a statement.”
The New York Times reports:
“After a generation of dominance in Texas, Republicans are now facing the same challenges as their counterparts in other parts of the country: By linking themselves to President Trump and his incendiary brand of nationalist politics, they are alienating the sort of suburban voters who were once among the Republican Party’s most dependable supporters.
[…]
“…Mr. Hurd and Mr. Olson represent districts that are full of nonwhite voters and that Republicans will struggle to defend. The loss of Mr. Hurd was an especially stinging blow because he is the only black Republican in the House.
The same demographic forces were also looming for Mr. Marchant, whose district sprawls to the northwest of Dallas. After winning re-election by 33 percentage points in 2014, his margin of victory fell to 17 percentage points in 2016 and then plunged to just three points last year. Similarly, while Mitt Romney won the district by 22 points, Mr. Trump carried it by only six points in 2016.”
“Republican Rep. Kenny Marchant said Monday he will not seek reelection to represent his Dallas-area district, leaving open a third Texas House seat heavily targeted by Democrats in 2020.
Marchant’s announcement comes days after Rep. Will Hurd (R-Tex.) announced he would not seek reelection in a sprawling border district and less than a month after Rep. Pete Olson (R-Tex.) declined to seek reelection in the Houston suburbs.
All three men won reelection in 2018 by five percentage points or less — in Hurd’s case, by only a few hundred votes.
[…]
Marchant’s retirement, first reported by the New York Times, is the latest blow to GOP hopes of retaking the House in 2020. The GOP retirements — which also include lawmakers in solidly Republican districts such as Reps. K. Michael Conaway (Tex.), Rob Bishop (Utah) and Martha Roby (Ala.) — send a signal that incumbents are not optimistic about returning soon to the majority.
[…]
Marchant’s district, centered on Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport and comprising affluent suburbs between the two cities, is one of several Texas districts that has become steadily more diverse over the past decade. In 2012, GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney won the 24th District by 22 points; four year later, Trump won it by only six points.
Last year, Marchant beat his Democratic opponent by three points after winning by 17 points in 2016, and it has been a top Democratic target ever since. A member of the tax-writing Ways and Means Committee, Marchant had built a formidable campaign war chest — raising $747,000 this year to build a $2.2 million bank account.”
“WASHINGTON — Two may be a coincidence, and three is a trend, but House Republicans may be struggling to settle on exactly the right word for seven — the more than half-dozen colleagues, representing a broad range of districts and demographics, who’ve announced over the past two weeks that they don’t plan to run for re-election.
What seems clear is that the exits — which include members from safe seats and competitive districts, one of the party’s 13 women in the House, and its only African American in the chamber — are serving as a flashing warning sign that GOP lawmakers are already growing weary of serving in the minority, and in a deeply divided political environment exacerbated by President Donald Trump.
[…]
Texas GOP Rep. Will Hurd, considered a rising star in the party, shocked his colleagues and political observers when he announced Thursday he had made the decision not to run again ‘in order to pursue opportunities outside the halls of Congress to solve problems at the nexus between technology and national security.
[…]
His decision followed recent retirement announcements by GOP Reps. Paul Mitchell of Michigan, Pete Olson of Texas, Martha Roby of Alabama, Rob Bishop of Utah and Mike Conaway of Texas. On Monday, Rep. Kenny Marchant, also of Texas, announced his retirement.”
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