'Worst year': How do congressional retirements compare to recent Congresses

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Washington Examiner

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 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 next 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 of Representatives at some point through that period is held by 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 mid-presidential term Congresses. The most resignations at this point since the 99th Congress was seven, during the 112th Congress, from 2011-13.