15 terms in the lower chamber of Congress. In other words, that’s 30 years as a Congressman, serving the state of Illinois. Bobby Rush is a career politician (and Black Panther) who in all likelihood will leave office far richer than when he entered.
Thankfully, though, Bobby is gone – soon. He is the 24th Democrat member of Congress to announce his intentions to retire.
Even though it is normal for a sitting president’s party to lose House seats during the midterm elections, the GOP currently only needs five seats to take back the gavel.
Could this be why Nancy Pelosi is thinking of exiting, too? We may know the answer soon enough.
From Chicago Sun-Times:
WASHINGTON — Rep. Bobby Rush, D-Ill., the former Black Panther, ex-Chicago alderman, member of Congress and a minister, told the Chicago Sun-Times on Monday that he will not seek another term.
Rush, first elected to Congress in 1992, said in an interview he intends to stay active in his ministry and find ways to use his remarkable life story — a trajectory from a 1960s radical to House member — to inspire younger generations.
CONTINUED:
Since his first election to Congress when he toppled a Democratic incumbent in the primary, Rush, with enormous name recognition from his Black Panther days, has kept an iron grip on his 1st Congressional District, famously defeating then-state Sen. Barack Obama in the 2000 Democratic primary.
Rush, 75, has won each primary and general election by overwhelming margins in the district, anchored on Chicago’s South Side and running through the city’s southern suburbs.
Rush stated, “I don’t want my grandchildren… to know me from a television news clip or something they read in a newspaper. I want them to know me on an intimate level, know something about me, and I want to know something about them. I don’t want to be a historical figure to my grandchildren.”
Other Dems retiring (or running for other seats) include: Speier, Kirkpatrick, Bass, Roybal-Allard, Murphy, Lowenthal, Demings, Crist, Bustos, Yarmuth, Brown, Butterfield, Price, Sires, Suozzi, Ryan, DeFazio, Lamb, Doyle, Bernice Johnson, Kind, Welch, Vela.
Regarding the five seats needed by the GOP to gain control of the House, via US News:
This means that the GOP could take control by flipping just five seats that are currently held by the Democrats. And just looking at the district maps as they are currently drawn, a five-seat gain is hardly a stretch.
An analysis by Sabato’s Crystal Ball at the University of Virginia Center for Politics characterized 19 Democratic-held House seats as toss-ups for 2022, compared to just two held by Republicans. If these seats were to split right down the middle between the parties, the GOP would jump to a 222-213 majority – an edge equivalent to the Democrats’ current margin.
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This story syndicated with permission from Johnny Salvatore – Trending Politics
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