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Republican Rep. Don Bacon won nine heavily contested GOP primary battles and general elections over the past decade in his swing U.S. House district.
But the retired Air Force general and moderate Republican who represents an Omaha, Nebraska-anchored congressional district told Fox News Digital that “the fire wasn’t there” anymore.
Bacon, who announced this summer that he wouldn’t run for a sixth two-year term in Congress in next year’s midterms, is one of 36 U.S. House members who’ve announced they won’t seek re-election next year.
And the surge in retirements may impact next year’s midterm elections, when Republicans are aiming to protect their fragile House majority.
AS CONGRESS GROWS OLDER, DEBATE HEATS UP OVER WHEN TO STEP ASIDE
Republican Rep. Don Bacon of Nebraska is retiring at the end of next year rather than seek re-election to a sixth term in Congress. (Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
“We’re above average,” noted David Wasserman, a senior editor and elections analyst at the non-partisan political handicapper “The Cook Report,” as he pointed to the pace of House retirement announcements so far this cycle.
And we’ve still got six weeks left until the calendar hits 2026.
Waves of retirement announcements traditionally come in the final month or two, amid the holiday season, in the year before congressional elections.
The party breakdown so far on the retirements: 15 Democrats and 21 Republicans.
DEMOCRAT RETIREMENT GIVES GOP BOOST IN BID TO FLIP KEY HOUSE SWING SEAT
A handful of the Democrats headed for the exits are in their 70s and 80s and retiring after long tenures in the House. The most prominent is 85-year-old former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
But in a continued sign that the bitter partisanship in the House has made the lower chamber in Congress far from a pleasant work environment, most of the members who are passing on re-election are much younger.
Chairman Rep. Jodey Arrington, R-Texas,…
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