All Alone On Long Island, Will Zeldin Be Next?
Monday, Pete King threw in the towel and officially announced his retirement, ushering in a wave of press highlighting vulnerabilities for House Republicans in suburban districts.
Just two months ago, King said, “I fully intend to run for reelection,” and continued actively fundraising for his campaign. Now that he’s changed his mind, the spotlight is fixed on fellow New York Republicans to see who may retire next.
Rumors have been swirling for months that vulnerable Republican Lee Zeldin may join the growing list of Members who would rather head for the exits than face tough reelections in 2020.
Zeldin’s hometown paper recently dubbed him the “shrinking Congressman” after his focus very clearly shifted from protecting his constituents to protecting the President.
Lee also faced protests back home after failing to fulfill his promise to retire before his third-term. As a candidate in 2014, Lee Zeldin signed the U.S. Term Limits Amendment Pledge to cosponsor and vote to limit House members to three terms and Senate members to two terms. Zeldin has since sponsored a bill to enshrine three-term limits in the Constitution, but he isn’t exactly taking it seriously.
The Congressman is currently seeking a fourth-term, defying the terms of his own bill. That is, unless he’s planning not to run again after all…
We’re not saying Zeldin will announce his retirement this week or even next week, but we are keeping a close eye out to see what he does next. As Pete King showed us this week, anything can change, and it doesn’t take much time at all to go from running to retiring.
REMINDER: Prior to King’s announcement, the Daily Kos ranked NY-01 as more vulnerable than NY-02. Zeldin’s district is currently ranked as the 8th most vulnerable Republican-held district in the country. Zeldin was added to the NRCC’s “Patriot Program” earlier this year, signaling that National Republicans are indeed worried about holding this seat. He’s also on the DCCC’s famed Retirement Watch List, which has accurately predicted the retirement of six House members so far this cycle.
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