Pelosi’s Majority Crumbles: Three Democrats Announce Retirement Within 24 Hours

Three vulnerable Democrats announced they would not be seeking reelection to the House of Representatives within 24 hours of each other, bringing the total of House Democrats not seeking reelection to 23.

Rep. Albio Sires (D-NJ), Rep. Stephanie Murphy (D-FL), and Chairwoman of the House Appropriations subcommittee overseeing immigration issues, Rep. Lucille Roybal-Allard (D-CA), announced they would not run for reelection within 24 hours of each other. 

Sires became the twenty-first Democrat to bow out when he confirmed to the New Jersey Globe he would not seek reelection. He is expected to make an official announcement before the end of the year. While Sires is in a solidly blue district, the announcement came as the state’s Legislative Redistricting Commission has been considering new maps to approve. However, his open seat would reportedly not affect the outcome. 

During his time in Congress, he has been a close confidant to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and President Joseph Robinette Biden, Jr., now that he is the president, voting with Pelosi 100 percent of the time in the current Congress to help pass partisan agenda items. 

Murphy became the twenty-second Democrat to fold when she told Politico, “It’s been a real honor for me to serve in Congress, but it does come at a personal sacrifice. My time away has been hard on my family and my kids and on me.” While the proposed redistricting map is waiting to be approved by the Florida legislature, it would essentially delete her congressional seat.

However, Murphy told Politico that her decision was not solely based on her reelection chances or the Democrats’ ability to maintain a majority in the House: “I think I could win in every one of the maps that has been proposed,” she said. But the announcement also comes after she backtracked on her Senate primary bid against Florida congressional colleague Rep. Val Demings (D-FL) in hopes of eventually facing Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL). Before she backtracked, Murphy was reportedly willing to challenge Demings in a Senate bid.

During her time in Congress, she has also been a close confidante to Pelosi and Biden, voting with Pelosi 95 percent of the time in the current Congress to help pass partisan agenda items. 

Roybal-Allard became the twenty-third Democrat and the third on Monday with no reelection intentions. “Serving my Constituents in Congress has been the single most distinguished honor of my life,” she said in a statement. “While I will not be seeking reelection in 2022, I look forward to continue to work for the people of my district in the new year and long after I leave public office.”

In November, Roybal-Allard showed some concern over the redistricting commission’s proposed map in California. Roybal-Allard later said that she has “concerns about the protections of Voting Rights [Act] districts” after seeing the current draft map for the redistricting happening in California, saying that it is significant in “diluting of the vote in our Latino communities.”

During her time in Congress, she has also been a close confidante to Pelosi and Biden, voting with Pelosi 100 percent of the time in the current Congress to help pass partisan agenda items. 

Some of those partisan votes include the $1.2 trillion, 2,702-page so-called bipartisan infrastructure bill earlier this year — which Biden already signed into law — and the $1.75 trillion Build Back Better Act (BBB) — also known as the Democrats’ reconciliation infrastructure bill.

However, while the BBB was considered to be the “marquee legislation” of Biden’s legislation agenda and would ultimately increase taxes on the middle class, expand and prolong the effects of inflation, and add hundreds of billions of dollars to the U.S. deficit, it was effectively killed by Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV). The senator on Fox News Sunday this past weekend said, “I cannot vote to continue with this piece of legislation … I can’t get there.”

The three announcements from the House Democrats come as other older or more vulnerable Democrats have also announced they would leave their current seats, with more still rumored to come. The three announcements make 23 total Democrats: 15 have announced actual retirement from the public eye — including three committee chairs — while eight more Democrats announced they would run for a different office, either in a local or state election.

Breitbart News has extensively reported on Pelosi’s majority crumbling and the Democrats’ struggles to keep members in the House and find new candidates to run for office. There have also been rumors of more Democrats abandoning ship in the coming weeks and months leading up to the midterms, as more redistricting maps are accepted and deadlines to file for reelection are getting closer.

Mike Berg, a spokesperson from the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC), said, “House Democrats’ nightmare before Christmas just keeps getting worse. Nobody wants to run as a Democrat because they know voters are rejecting their push for defunding police, higher taxes, and open borders.”

Jacob Bliss is a reporter for Breitbart News. You can follow him on Twitter.

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