Just shy of one in seven House Democrats has elected to retire this year, a historic record. It’s almost as if they’re trying to get out of the way of a coming anti-Biden tsunami.
Representative Kathleen Rice, who represents a majority of Long Island’s Nassau County, announced her retirement suddenly on Tuesday. Her seat went for Joe Biden by twelve points in 2020, but last year, it voted to oust incumbent Democrats from the Nassau County executive and district attorney posts. The seat is viewed as highly competitive, and Rice’s current GOP challenger outraised her in the last fundraising cycle.
Rice is yet another beleaguered House moderate who has grown tired of the autocratic rule of Queen Nancy. She helped lead the band of moderates who tried to derail Pelosi’s speaker bid in 2019. She lost that battle, though she was able to defeat AOC in a key internal battle for a chair on the powerful Energy and Commerce Committee — an early sign that even Democratic members don’t take AOC seriously.