House Republicans Are Quitting in Droves

After a year of unprecedented chaos in the House, Republicans continue to quit Congress.

On December 4, Missouri Republican Blaine Luetkemeyer announced he would not seek reelection in 2024.

"As we tackle the many challenges we face, I hope we remember what someone once said that 'the greatness of our country is not found in the halls of Congress but in the hearts and homes of our people,'" the outgoing lawmaker said in a statement.

Luetkemeyer follows a number of Republicans leaving the Capitol this year. While his retirement is not necessarily unusual, it comes after a tumultuous 2023 in Congress' lower chamber. The House Press Gallery's "Casualty List" put Luetkemeyer as the 14th Republican member of the House this session to announce they would either be retiring or seeking office elsewhere.

A lot is at stake. While 23 Democrats have either retired or sought office elsewhere, further resignations from GOP members could threaten an already thin, already reduced majority.

Among the early-leavers is former Speaker Kevin McCarthy, ousted after his difficult term as speaker lasted less than a year after he was elected in the 15th round of voting last year.

George Santos, kicked out after a House Ethics Committee investigation, also reduced his party's majority and the special election to replace him could go either way, according to polling tracked by FiveThirtyEight.

As it stands, there are now 220 Republicans and 213 Democrats, but the Republican total is set to fall again on January 21 when Ohio's Bill Johnson leaves to become president of Youngstown State University.

"Hopefully no one dies," MAGA Republican Marjorie Taylor Greene said on X, formerly Twitter, after Santos' and McCarthy's departures were confirmed. "I can assure you Republican voters didn't give us the majority to crash the ship."

McCarthy's departure led to another four rounds of voting to elect Mike Johnson of Louisiana as speaker in October. Animosity and bad blood within the party was clear.

McCarthy had been kicked from the speaker's chair after MAGA Republican Matt Gaetz set the plans in motion to get rid of him. Gaetz taunted his colleague with an X post that simply said: "McLeavin." A video titled "Bye Kevin" was also made available on his website.

Nebraska Representative Don Bacon admitted to NBC there was "bad blood" within the party before Johnson was elected speaker.

"We're not getting the Israel stuff done. We're not getting appropriations bills done. And we need to move forward," he said.

Bacon was referring partly to the request for funding by the Biden administration for $106 billion, in which cash for Israel and Ukraine is included. It has stalled because of arguments from conservatives that more should be done to address border security issues. The Biden administration has asked $14 billion to address the crisis.

Molly Reynolds, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, told the Associated Press that members of Congress may be feeling "frustrated" with life in Washington, D.C.

The burnout has affected the likes of Arizona Republican Debbie Lesko, who said politics in the American capital are "broken."

"It is hard to get anything done," she said in a statement on October 17.