Dem
47
GOP
53
'Tis the season! The holidays are over, families and friends have been talked to, and there's been about a month full of reminders that Congress is dysfunctional. So, the retirements are coming fast and furious. Rep. Barry Loudermilk (R-GA) threw in the towel earlier this week and yesterday, Rep. Mark Amodei (R-NV) joined Loudermilk in heading for the door.
Amodei is serving his eighth, and presumably final, term. In his retirement announcement, he explained: "I came to Congress to solve problems and to make sure our State and Nation have strong voice in the federal policy and oversight processes. I look forward to finishing my term. After 15 years of service, I believe it is the right time for Nevada and myself to pass the torch." That is a non-explanation explanation (though at least he did not bother with the cliché "I want to spend more time with family.") We think it's fair to interpret such a milquetoast explanation as "This job sucks these days, but I can't say that out loud."
Amodei's district, NV-02, is R+7 and has never sent a Democrat to Congress. Under normal circumstances, that would translate to "safe seat." Under the circumstances in play this year, it probably translates to "Who knows?" There were already five Democrats in the race, so the Party will certainly have a candidate. The only other Republican in the race is Rick Shepherd, who used to be a Democrat. The MAGA voters who powered Amodei's last several victories won't like that, so we would guess at least one or two more Republicans will get in before the filing deadline on March 13. If that does not happen, and Shepherd is the candidate, that will make the Democrats very happy. (Z)