California – Former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy of California is giving a straightforward reason for why so many members are leaving Capitol Hill: they don’t think their job is going anywhere anymore.
In a recent interview, the Republican claimed that the ongoing deadlock, fighting within the party, and lack of real accomplishments are making veteran members of Congress decide that the personal cost of service is no longer worth it.
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McCarthy stated that many members know what they’re getting into when they join Congress, including long periods of time away from their families, intense public scrutiny, and even threats to their safety.
He said that people are willing to deal with the responsibilities when they feel like they are doing something important.
He stated that when development stops and the task turns into a never-ending political conflict, people lose their drive to stay. McCarthy says that the troubling pattern is not just the sheer number of lawmakers who are leaving, but also the quality of those who are leaving.
Appearing alongside former Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin, McCarthy said that the defection was a sign of bigger flaws in the political system. He said that elections feel more like they are already decided because there are fewer competitive districts.
According to McCarthy, lawmakers are now choosing their voters through well constructed maps instead of being chosen by them. This change makes the House less accountable and impairs its position as the institution most intimately connected to the public.
McCarthy referred to the founders’ original vision, saying that the House was meant to change hands often, every two years, to reflect changes in society. In contrast, the Senate was supposed to work more slowly and temper political passions.
He argued that when results are set in stone before votes are cast, citizens lose their actual power and lawmakers lose their motivation to work hard in competitive situations.
More than 50 members of the House from both parties have already said they will leave their seats. Some of them are Republicans who have won several close races, and some are long-time Democrats who have been in government for decades. Some MPs in their seventies have decided to retire instead of running for another term, while others are looking at other political avenues. A lot of House Republicans are running for governor, and a few Democrats are now aiming for the Senate.
Some departures have drawn particular attention. One of the most well-known resignations is that of a Georgia Republican whose public falling out with former President Donald Trump led her to say she would stand down later this year.
Some members from swing districts are also departing Congress. They were able to win reelection even though the voters were becoming more divided. This makes McCarthy’s worry that competent lawmakers are choosing to go instead of staying in Congress and dealing with constant deadlock.
At the same time, fights over redistricting keep changing the political landscape. Some states have already changed the boundaries of their congressional districts, and others are thinking about doing the same before the 2018 midterm elections. Some others say that these attempts could make competition even less, which is what McCarthy thinks is happening to Congress.
The anger that is causing people to retire is now spreading to other parts of Capitol Hill. A separate controversy in the last few weeks has shown how internal disagreement may get in the way of legislative activity.
A Republican representative from Kentucky got a lot of attention when he informally asked people if the former Florida attorney general should be impeached for how he handled confidential Justice Department information related to the Jeffrey Epstein case. The online outreach got tens of thousands of replies and showed that both sides were angry about a lack of transparency and accountability.
That event, while not directly related to the wave of retirements, shows the kind of Congress McCarthy talked about: one that is too busy with investigations, infighting, and symbolic battles to pass laws. There hasn’t been any official action on the impeachment talk, but it has made divisions within parties worse and made many feel that Capitol Hill is locked in a loop of fighting instead of governing.
The bigger picture is evident for McCarthy. When lawmakers feel stuck in a system where progress is hard to come by and political penalty is always there, they start to hunt for meaning in other places. He said that losing experienced members makes it tougher for Congress to do its job well because it reduces institutional knowledge. He said that until politicians can find a way to bring back competition, teamwork, and a sense of accomplishment, the revolving door on Capitol Hill is likely to keep turning.
