Midterm elections usually bring about a number of ‘retirements’ from Congress. Some are running for other seats.
According to Roll Call, a non-partisan Congressional newspaper, usually about 22 representatives don’t run for reelection during the midterms. This year the number is 49 (out of 435). Ten of them are running for the Senate, and nine are running for governorships.
Incumbents have a massive advantage when running for office, and are overwhelmingly re-elected each cycle. Over the last 35 years, reelection rates were solidly over 80% reelection for the House, and around or over 80% for the Senate, according to Open Secrets.
Three senators (out of 100) have also announced they will not be back: Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tennessee, Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Arizona, and Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah.
Currently the Senate has 51 Republican members, 47 Democratic members, and two Independents who caucus with the Democrats. The House of Representatives has 241 Republicans and 194 Democrats.
Today South Carolina Representative Trey Gowdy announced that he would not seek reelection. Representative Gowdy came to national attention as the Republican leader of the Benghazi commision, investigation potential wrongdoing by Hillary Clinton’s State Department & her use of private email servers.
Here is a list of the Representatives who will not seek reelection or another office (all lists are from Ballotpedia):
| Name: | Party: | Current office: |
|---|---|---|
| Trey Gowdy | Republican | South Carolina, District 4 |
| Robert Brady | Democrat | Pennsylvania, District 1 |
| Bill Shuster | Republican | Pennsylvania, District 9 |
| Blake Farenthold | Republican | Texas, District 27 |
| Bob Goodlatte | Republican | Virginia, District 6 |
| Carol Shea-Porter | Democratic | New Hampshire, District 1 |
| Charles W. Dent | Republican | Pennsylvania, District 15 |
| Darrell Issa | Republican | California, District 49 |
| Dave Reichert | Republican | Washington, District 8 |
| David Trott | Republican | Michigan, District 11 |
| Edward Royce | Republican | California, District 39 |
| Frank LoBiondo | Republican | New Jersey, District 2 |
| Gene Green | Democratic | Texas, District 29 |
| Gregg Harper | Republican | Mississippi, District 3 |
| Ileana Ros-Lehtinen | Republican | Florida, District 27 |
| Jeb Hensarling | Republican | Texas, District 5 |
| Jim Bridenstine | Republican | Oklahoma, District 1 |
| Joe Barton | Republican | Texas, District 6 |
| John Delaney | Democratic | Maryland, District 6 |
| John J. Duncan, Jr. | Republican | Tennessee, District 2 |
| Lamar Smith | Republican | Texas, District 21 |
| Luis V. Gutierrez | Democratic | Illinois, District 4 |
| Lynn Jenkins | Republican | Kansas, District 2 |
| Niki Tsongas | Democratic | Massachusetts, District 3 |
| Patrick Meehan | Republican | Pennsylvania, District 7 |
| Rodney Frelinghuysen | Republican | New Jersey, District 11 |
| Ruben J. Kihuen | Democratic | Nevada, District 4 |
| Sam Johnson | Republican | Texas, District 3 |
| Sandy Levin | Democratic | Michigan, District 9 |
| Ted Poe | Republican | Texas, District 2 |
These representatives want to go to the Senate:
| Name: | Party: | Current office: |
|---|---|---|
| Beto O’Rourke | Democratic | Texas, District 16 |
| Evan Jenkins | Republican | West Virginia, District 3 |
| Jacky Rosen | Democratic | Nevada, District 3 |
| James B. Renacci | Republican | Ohio, District 16 |
| Kyrsten Sinema | Democratic | Arizona, District 9 |
| Lou Barletta | Republican | Pennsylvania, District 11 |
| Luke Messer | Republican | Indiana, District 6 |
| Marsha Blackburn | Republican | Tennessee, District 7 |
| Martha McSally | Republican | Arizona, District 2 |
| Todd Rokita | Republican | Indiana, District 4 |
These representatives would like to be called Governor:
| Colleen Hanabusa | Democratic | Hawaii, District 1 |
| Diane Black | Republican | Tennessee, District 6 |
| Jared Polis | Democratic | Colorado, District 2 |
| Kristi L. Noem | Republican | South Dakota, At-Large District |
| Michelle Lujan Grisham | Democratic | New Mexico, District 1 |
| Raul R. Labrador | Republican | Idaho, District 1 |
| Ron DeSantis | Republican | Florida, District 6 |
| Steve Pearce | Republican | New Mexico, District 2 |
| Tim Walz | Democratic | Minnesota, District 1 |
These people have already left the House or Senate or are on the way out:
| Al Franken | Democratic | U.S. Senate, Minnesota |
| Jason Chaffetz | Republican | U.S. House, Utah, District 3 |
| Jeff Sessions | Republican | U.S. Attorney General (was AL Sen) |
| John Conyers, Jr. | Democratic | U.S. House, Michigan, District 13 |
| Michael “Mick” Mulvaney | Republican | Director of the U.S. OMB (was SC Rep) |
| Mike Pompeo | Republican | Director of the CIA (was KA Rep) |
| Patrick J. Tiberi | Republican | U.S. House, Ohio, District 12 |
| Ryan Zinke | Republican | U.S. Secretary of the Interior (was MT Rep) |
| Tim Murphy | Republican | U.S. House, Pennsylvania, District 18 |
| Tom Price | Republican | Former Secretary of HHS (was GA Rep) |
| Trent Franks | Republican | U.S. House, Arizona, District 8 |
| Xavier Becerra | Democratic | Attorney General of California (was CA Rep) |
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