Yes, Republicans are losing their national bench. Oh noes!
More than a dozen GOP leaders in state legislatures across the country — including North Carolina, Wisconsin, Georgia and Iowa — have opted to resign or have announced their retirement over the past 14 months.
It’s not just congressional Republicans facing mid-terms as polls show President Donald Trump’s popularity sinking amid higher gas prices and doubts about the Iran war. They could be facing another midterm like 2018, when Democrats flipped six legislative chambers and netted over 300 seats nationwide.
“I think he puts Republicans on the defensive with his actions,” said Dick Wadhams, a longtime consultant and a former state GOP chair in Colorado. (Gee, Dick, ya think?) “They can’t stand it anymore.”
Some Republicans continue to whistle in the dark. “If the election were next week, I’d be bothered,” said Wisconsin GOP Chair Brian Schimming. “The election is not next week.”
The loss of at least 14 Republican leaders, compared to about half as many Democrats, points to a broader shift in state-level politics and the loss of some lawmakers who might have become the next generation of leaders on the national political scene -- choking off the statehouse to D.C. pipeline. OH DARN. I AM SO UPSET.
