The eighty-two year-old Kentuckian announced in a speech on the Senate floor that he will hand off leadership of the caucus to somebody else at the end of this Congress and become a backbencher for the remainder of his current term ending in 2027.
Category: Public Service
Posted inPublic Service
Sam Hunt to retire from the Washington State Legislature after many decades of service
“The time has come to let somebody else face the challenge of being a state senator,” Hunt said. “I would like to thank the many legislators with whom I have served, as well as the bright and dedicated staff who enable the Legislature to do its work.”
Posted inMedia & Culture
Book Review: Getting Elected is the Easy Part offers practical advice and political wisdom
Read NPI’s review of Getting Elected is the Easy Part: Working and Winning in the State Legislature, by Washington State Senator Karen Keiser.
Posted inElections
NPI talks to Spokane Mayor-elect Lisa Brown as she prepares to begin leading the Lilac City
Brown is set to assume office on New Year’s Day, January 1st, succeeding Republican Nadine Woodward, and will have no shortage of tough issues to tackle. Read her pre-Day One interview with the Northwest Progressive Institute.
Posted inPublic Service
Ex-Speaker Kevin McCarthy, who said he’d never quit, decides to quit Congress
“I have decided to depart the House at the end of this year to serve America in new ways. I know my work is only getting started,” McCarthy wrote.
Posted inElections
Representative Derek Kilmer says this term will be his last as a member of Congress
“I’m a pretty young guy with more chapters in my life,” Kilmer, forty-nine, wrote. “My plan is to ensure those chapters enable me to continue to make a positive difference. And I’d sure like to make a bit more time for those I love.”
Posted inElections
Goodbye, Joe Manchin
“I have made one of the toughest decisions of my life and decided that I will not be running for re-election to the United States Senate,” West Virginia’s sole remaining Democratic member of Congress said.
Posted inPublic Service
Say hello to Leaders We Deserve, a new PAC working to elect young progressives to office
Get to know, Leaders We Deserve — “a grassroots organization dedicated to electing young progressives to Congress and State Legislatures across the country to help defeat the far-right agenda and advance a progressive vision for the future.”
Posted inPublic Service
Longtime United States Representative Earl Blumenauer of Oregon to retire in 2024
“It is a difficult decision. Particularly after the amazing success of the last several years,” said Blumenauer. “But simply said, it is time to continue my life’s mission without the burden of day-to-day politics.”
Posted inParty Politics
House Republicans pick a new Speaker at last: Ultra MAGA Congressman Mike Johnson
The vote to elect Johnson, who is a devoted soldier for Donald Trump, was unanimous among Republicans, with all 220 Republicans who voted backing his candidacy. He is the first speaker in U.S. history from Louisiana.
Posted inPublic Service
Bowing to reality and a vote of no confidence, Jim Jordan ends his bid for Speaker
Jordan had already been experiencing negative momentum between those floor votes, with several Republicans pulling their support and leaving him well short of the threshold of a majority of representatives present and voting he needed to win.
Posted inParty Politics
Republicans remain paralyzed and speaker-less over a week after McCarthy’s ouster
The turmoil of House Republicans, divided by factions and feuds, shows a party unable to govern at a time when America’s commitments are vitally needed abroad while at home, another government shutdown looms in just five weeks.
Posted inElections
A big week in Canadian politics: NDP wins watershed provincial election in Manitoba, House of Commons gets first Black Speaker
As U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy was being deposed in Washington, D.C., amidst the ugly dysfunction of the Republican Party, progressives were scoring a pair of real and symbolic victories north of the border in Winnipeg and Ottawa… achievements in which all Canadians can take pride.
Posted inPublic Service
United States House of Representatives votes to remove Kevin McCarthy as Speaker
McCarthy’s speakership lasted just two hundred and sixty-nine days, ranking as one of the shortest in American history.