Why these former House Republicans know they 'made the right call to leave'

08 April 2024

Although Republicans flipped the U.S. House of Representatives in the 2022 midterms, they didn't do so by the huge double-digit margins that Fox News was predicting. The GOP majority that took over in January 2023 was a small one, and it has grown even smaller since then thanks, in part, to a wave of resignations. Former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-California) and ex-Rep. Ken Buck (R-Colorado) are among the prominent Republicans who expressed their frustration by leaving Congress.

In an article published on April 7, the Washington Post's Marianna Sotomayor stresses that the importance of these departures goes way beyond the House — it underscores the GOP's overall dysfunction.

"The tumultuous year in a slim majority hasn't necessarily pushed departing Republicans to seek higher office or pursue other opportunities away from Capitol Hill," Sotomayor explains. "But it reaffirmed for most that they made the right call to leave, that because the House has become more partisan, it is now more difficult to pass legislation that makes an impact than when many were first elected."

Sotomayor points out that Rep. Steve Scalise (R-Louisiana) tried to talk Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-Wisconsin) out of resigning, but to no avail: Gallagher (not to be confused with the conservative radio host) was determined to leave. Friday, April 19 will be his last day, leaving House Republicans with only a one-vote majority.

"The decisions to depart are yet another sign of the broader drop in morale within the GOP conference," Sotomayor notes. "Many Republican lawmakers have largely accepted that their inability to govern is a predicament of their own making. They acknowledge that overcoming their legislative impasse relies not only on keeping control of the House in November, but also, on growing their ranks significantly enough to neutralize the handful of hardliners who wield influence by taking advantage of the narrow margins."

The Washington Post reporter adds, "But many also continue to say privately what few have acknowledged publicly: Republicans believe they are likely to lose the majority."

During an interview, Buck obviously didn't regret his resignation.

The former Colorado congressman told the Post, "I think that the populist wave has eroded the conservative values that I had when I came to this place. Now, we're impeaching people like it's some kind of carnival, and the Constitution is just a thing of the past to the very same people who were Tea Party patriots 10 to 12 years ago."

Read the Washington Post's full report at this link (subscription required).

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