11-Term Democratic Rep Announces Retirement Ahead Of Midterms

Eleven-term Democratic Rhode Island Rep. Jim Langevin announced Tuesday that he will not run for reelection in 2022.

Taking office in 2001, Langevin currently serves on the House Armed Services Committee, where he chairs the subcommittee on Cyber, Innovative Technologies, and Information Systems and the House Homeland Security Committee. Before his election to Congress, Langevin served in the Rhode Island House of Representatives and as the Secretary of State of Rhode Island. He was the first quadriplegic to be elected to the House of Representatives.

“It’s been the privilege of a lifetime to represent you as a state representative, as Secretary of State, and as your congressman,” Langevin said in a video posted to his YouTube channel. “We’ve been in this fight together, just like we always have.”

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“I have not come to this decision lightly, but it is time for me to chart a new course, which will allow me to stay closer to home and spend more time with my family and friends,” he added in an op-ed in The Providence Journal.

Langevin is the 40th member of Congress to decline to run for reelection this cycle, and the 27th Democrat. His seat, Rhode Island’s Second District, is unlikely to change hands. Langevin won reelection by 17 points in 2020, and Democrats could opt to shore it up during redistricting. (RELATED: Democratic Rep. Ed Perlmutter Announces Retirement)

A more moderate member of the Democratic caucus, Langevin opposed the full withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan. A former member of the Congressional Pr0-Life Caucus, he voted for anti-abortion legislation as recently as 2015, but in 2021 supported a bill that would legalize abortion at any point in a woman’s pregnancy.