Dem
47
GOP
53
As long as we are on the subject of MAGA women ending their careers, just minutes after Elise Stefanik ended her gubernatorial run, Sen. Cynthia Lummis (R-WY) announced that she is one-and-done, and that she will not run for reelection. In a statement, she explained: "Deciding not to run for re-election does represent a change of heart for me, but in the difficult, exhausting session weeks this fall I've come to accept that I do not have six more years in me... I am a devout legislator, but I feel like a sprinter in a marathon. The energy required doesn't match up."
Whereas we tend to be skeptical of "I want to spend time with my family," because it's such a cliché and because it takes all responsibility away from the officeholder, we are inclined to believe that Lummis is telling the truth, as she's conceding that it's her own frailties that led to her decision. She's 71, which is middle-aged by U.S. Senate standards, but is getting up there by anyone else's standards. And it really must be exhausting to be a senator representing a Western state with a small population and somewhat dinky airports. If you're Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA) or Sen. Angela Alsobrooks (D-MD), you don't have to do all that much traveling at all if you don't want to. But from Washington, DC, to Cheyenne, WY, is a 6½ hour flight. Tag on a couple of hours at the start of that to get to the airport and get through security, and an hour at the other end of that to get home, and you're looking at something like 10 hours' travel time and a 2-hour time change every time you go home. And that assumes no delays or other issues. Not easy at any age, but surely even tougher into your mid-to-late 70s (and Lummis would be 78 at the end of another term).
Wyoming is R+23 and the Democratic bench there is thinner than Donald Trump's skin, so the only question next November is which Republican will replace Lummis in the Senate. Given that Lummis' decision was unexpected, and that it came late Friday, there hasn't been time for any serious candidate to declare a run. Rep. Harriet Hageman (R-WY) would be the obvious choice, if you had to bet, but any of the state elected officials, from Gov. Mark Gordon (R-WY) on down, are also possibilities. (Z)