More Retirements

Yesterday two senior Democrats – Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont and Rep. Jackie Speier of California – announced they were retiring and would not seek reelection in 2022. Their seats are not competitive and will likely stay in Democrat hands. But don't overlook the significance of their announcements.

Leahy and Speier see the handwriting on the wall, and neither wants to serve in the minority after the 2022 congressional elections. The latest Rasmussen poll finds that likely voters now favor Republicans by 13 points in the generic congressional ballot.

Leahy is chairman of the powerful Senate Appropriations Committee. As president pro tempore of the Senate, he's also third in the line of presidential succession, behind the vice president and speaker of the House. He doesn't want to be a backbencher again. 

Speier, a subcommittee chairman and key ally of Speaker Nancy Pelosi, knows that Pelosi's grip on the speaker's gavel is weakening with each passing day. Better to go out on top, as the saying goes.

In related news, Texas State Representative Ryan Guillen switched parties yesterday. At a press conference announcing that he was joining the GOP, Guillen said:

"Friends, something is happening in South Texas, and many of us are waking up to the fact that the values of those in Washington, D.C., are not our values. . . The ideology of defunding the police, of destroying the oil and gas industry and the chaos at our border is disastrous for those of us who live here in South Texas."