|
Rep. Tom Davis’s (R-Va.) retirement announcement on Wednesday is a stinging blow to a party that has had five House members reveal over the last week that the 110th Congress will be their last.
Davis’s decision is perhaps their biggest loss this cycle out of 28 vacancies — given his swing district, campaigning acumen and policy experience. President Bush won Davis’s district 50-49 percent in 2004.
The departing Republicans have now eclipsed the number of Democrats who left the House the cycle after they lost power in 1994. According to the House historian, 25 Democrats left office in 1995 and 1996.
A giddy Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee issued a release Wednesday asking, “Who will be the 29th House Republican to retire? Will [Thursday’s Federal Election Commission] reports provide any new clues?”
National Republican Congressional Campaign Chairman Tom Cole (Okla.) praised Davis’s work in the House and at NRCC while expressing confidence the seven-term lawmaker’s seat will stay in the GOP’s hands: “The people of northern Virginia have come to rely on Republican representation in the U.S. House of Representatives, and I believe they will continue to support a congressman who fights for lower taxes and a stronger economy.”
Stuart Roy, an ex-GOP aide who is a partner at Prism Public Affairs, said Republicans should focus on the presidential nominee and allow members who have decided to end their tenure in Congress to go.
“It’s fruitless to chase the bullfrogs in an attempt to keep them in the wheelbarrow,” he said.
“The best thing we can do is have a presidential nominee in a week to give our members some comfort that the political wind will be at their back and they will want to remain in Congress.”
Dan Mattoon, Davis’s former deputy when the legislator served as chairman of the NRCC, said it is premature to write the obituary for Republicans in the 2008 election cycle.
|
