{"id":10256,"date":"2020-01-28T14:00:20","date_gmt":"2020-01-28T19:00:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/short-reads\/%year%\/%monthnum%\/%day%\/nine-months-before-election-day-three-dozen-house-members-heading-for-the-exits\/"},"modified":"2024-04-14T01:17:11","modified_gmt":"2024-04-14T06:17:11","slug":"nine-months-before-election-day-three-dozen-house-members-heading-for-the-exits","status":"publish","type":"short-read","link":"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/short-reads\/2020\/01\/28\/nine-months-before-election-day-three-dozen-house-members-heading-for-the-exits\/","title":{"rendered":"Nine months before Election Day, three dozen House members heading for the exits"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Republicans<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Nine
Republican Rep. James Sensenbrenner of Wisconsin, seen here during markup of the articles of impeachment at the House Judiciary Committee in Washington in December, has said he won’t run for reelection in 2020. (Michael Brochstein\/Echoes Wire\/Barcroft Media via Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/figure>\n\n

It\u2019s early in the 2020 election year, but at least three dozen members of the House of Representatives already have opted out of running for new terms. That\u2019s not far off the average number of retirements, resignations and other voluntary departures for a full election cycle, according to a Pew Research Center analysis.<\/p>\n\n

\"U.S.<\/a><\/figure>\n\n

As of Jan. 28, 28 representatives (22 Republicans and six Democrats) have announced that they\u2019re retiring and won\u2019t seek reelection this year; four other Republicans and three Democrats are running for other offices instead. In addition, the seat of Duncan D. Hunter, R-Calif., who resigned earlier this month, won\u2019t be filled<\/a> by special election before November\u2019s general election. That makes for 36 open seats that we know about so far. That figure could well rise: Doug Collins, R-Ga., reportedly will announce a Senate run<\/a> soon, and as of Jan. 28, filing deadlines have passed in only 11 states (the deadlines for two states are as late as mid-July). By our count, nearly 80 representatives have yet to indicate their reelection plans.<\/p>\n\n

Over the 14 election cycles between 1992 and 2018, an average of 41.2 House members each cycle chose not to run for reelection. During those cycles, the numbers ranged from a low of 30 (in both 2000 and 2006) to a high of 65 in 1992. The 1992 election cycle holds the record for voluntary House departures going back to 1930, based on our analysis and a tally compiled by Vital Statistics on Congress<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n

According to our analysis, the 2018 election cycle saw the second-highest number of voluntary departures from the House (that is, members retiring, resigning or pursuing some other office) since the early 1990s, with 58 representatives (39 Republicans and 19 Democrats) not running for reelection. Of those 58, 31 retired outright, 21 left to run for some other office, and six resigned without being replaced in a special election. (This time around, four other House seats besides Hunter\u2019s are currently vacant due to resignation or death, but they are scheduled to be filled by special elections. Since the winners of those four special elections presumably will seek full terms this November as incumbents, we didn\u2019t include them in our count.)<\/p>\n\n

How we did this<\/div>