Colorado Politics

How do congressional retirements compare to recent Congresses

The 118th Congress has seen a cavalcade of members of the House of Representatives announce they will not seek another term, and historically, it is a significant number of exits.

With the significant number of incumbents not running for reelection and the sudden retirements of several Republicans, including former Rep. Ken Buck, the chaos of the 118th Congress appears to be on track to continue a recent trend of incumbents not seeking another term in the House of Representatives – but it is not at the top of the list in terms of early resignations in the House for recent Congresses.

So far in the 118th Congress, there are eight vacancies in the House of Representatives through death, resignation, or expulsion, with another on the way when Rep. Mike Gallagher, R-WI, resigns from his seat this month.

Dating back to the 99th Congress, from 1985-87, the current Congress is the middle of the pack in terms of the number of vacancies 15th months in. The Congress with the most vacancies in the House at some point through that period was the 117th Congress, from 2021-23, with 12 vacancies created via either death or resignation.

When narrowed down to only resignations, the 118th Congress has had six members quit early so far, two Democrats and four Republicans, with Gallagher slated to be the seventh one on April 19. This puts the 118th Congress near the top in terms of resignations at this point in midpresidential-term Congresses. The most resignations at this point since the 99th Congress is seven, during the 112th Congress, from 2011-13.

Congresses beginning the same year as a presidential term typically see a higher number of resignations in the House of Representatives because many resign to take jobs in a new administration or in the second term of a presidential administration. Among those Congresses, the most resignations 15 months into a term, dating back to the 99th Congress, goes to the 115th Congress, from 2017-19, with 10, at the beginning of former President Donald Trump’s term.

When looking at incumbents who have announced they will not seek another term, 43 current members of Congress have said they will not seek an additional term in November or are running for a different office.

In the past decade, it ranks near the top of recent Congresses, with only the 115th Congress, when 52 members of the House did not seek reelection, and the 117th Congress, when 49 members of the House did not seek reelection, ranking higher.

With this week’s announcement that Rep. Annie Kuster, D-NH, would not seek another term in November, the figure for the 118th Congress still has time to beat recent highs set by the 115th and 117th Congresses.

While the 118th Congress is not record-setting with its number of retirements yet, frustrations from a chaotic 15 months in the House have left some of the departing members disgruntled. On his way out of the House, Buck told CNN the current House was the “worst year of the nine years and three months that I’ve been in Congress.”

Then-U.S. Rep. Ken Buck, a Windsor Republican., walks out of the House chamber after he refused to join the Republican majority in voting to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas at the Capitol in Washington on Feb. 6, 2024. Buck resigned his seat on March 22, 2024, spurring a special election to fill the remainder of his term.
(AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
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