Being in the House is miserable. Some former members still want to come back.

Apr 01, 2024

TOP LINE

Members of Congress are leaving in droves. But some former legislators think the grass is still greener in Washington.

A handful of former members of Congress have launched House bids this cycle. For some, it’s been just a couple of years since they were last elected. And for others, it’s been decades. But regardless of the last time they’ve held federal office, should they win, they’ll be entering a Congress that is very different from their previous terms.

Their campaigns come during some trying times in the House. It’s been one of the least productive sessions of Congress ever. The speaker could be ousted — again. Dozens of members aren’t running for reelection, and some are ending their terms early because of the lower chamber’s dysfunction. Even senior staffers are thinking about giving up on Congress.

Dennis Kucinich speaks at an event.

Former Ohio Rep. Dennis Kucinich announces his independent candidacy for Congress in Ohio's 7th Congressional District on Jan. 24, 2024, in Independence, Ohio. | Sue Ogrocki/AP

“I arrive at this moment with an awareness of the urgency of being in Congress to be able to help my colleagues find the commonalities and be able to reunite our country,” said former Rep. Dennis Kucinich, a Democrat-turned-independent who’s looking to run against Republican Rep. Max Miller in Ohio’s 7th District. “Now, does this sound like an ambitious undertaking? Of course, but one must be aware that governance itself is such and that we have to reimagine our country.”

While Kucinich’s path back as an independent is murky, there is at least one former representative who will assuredly return next year: Democrat Gil Cisneros. He narrowly lost his reelection bid to now-Republican Rep. Young Kim in a battleground district in 2020, and will now be facing off against a repeat Republican candidate in deep-blue CA-31.

Other previous members of Congress are also expected to coast to a win in November — as long as they get past their crowded primaries. Marlin Stutzman — who represented Indiana’s 3rd District from 2010 to 2017, until he unsuccessfully ran for Senate — is taking on seven other Republicans next month to succeed outgoing Republican Rep. Jim Banks. But it’s a deep red seat, so the winner of the primary will likely be victorious come the fall. On the other end of the state, former Republican Rep. John Hostettler faces a similarly busy primary field to fill retiring Republican Rep. Larry Bucshon’s seat in the safe GOP 8th District. Hostettler represented the district for over a decade, from 1995 to 2007.

A similar dynamic is at play in Arizona’s 8th District, a ruby red seat that will be open as Republican Rep. Debbie Lesko leaves to run to be on Maricopa County’s board of supervisors. Former Rep. Trent Franks, who resigned in 2017 after female staffers said he approached them about being a surrogate for him and his wife, is up against six other Republicans in the primary.

The same goes for former Rep. Denny Rehberg, a Montana Republican who represented the state’s then-at-large congressional district from 2001 to 2013. Rehberg, who lost a Senate campaign to Democrat Jon Tester in 2012, is trying to get back to D.C. with a bid in the 2nd District, a safe Republican seat held by outgoing Republican Rep. Matt Rosendale.

“I'm not unused to controversy, or disruption, or anything like that,” Rehberg said in February, before he formally announced his bid, referring to the fast food restaurants he operated during the pandemic. “I just want to be helpful in any way I possibly can.”

Cleo Fields, a Democratic Louisiana state senator who was in Congress from 1993 to 1997, is currently the favorite for his party’s nod in Louisiana's 6th District, a newly drawn majority-Black seat that favors Democrats. But the field can change — there are still three months until the filing deadline. And in Wisconsin’s 1st District, a seat currently held by Republican Rep. Bryan Steil that Trump would have narrowly won in 2020, former Democratic Rep. Peter Barca is considering a run. Barca won a special election in 1993 and narrowly lost in 1994.

Still, the chaos of the House looms over these candidates. Former Rep. Mark Walker (R-N.C.), who last month ended his bid for the 6th District to take a job on the Trump campaign, said he made his decision to come back to Congress before Republicans like Reps. Mike Gallagher (Wis.) and Cathy McMorris Rodgers (Wash.) — people he considers “great members and friends” — decided to call it quits. He wanted to “augment our message into different places and communities.” But that’s harder and harder these days.

“I’m very concerned with the toxicity and the theater,” Walker said. “I do worry about not only where we are today, but currently where we're trending in the future.”

Happy Monday, and welcome to April. Reach me at mfernandez@politico.com and @madfernandez616.

Days until the Alabama runoffs: 15

Days until the Pennsylvania primaries: 22

Days until the Indiana primaries: 36

Days until the North Carolina runoffs and Maryland, Nebraska and West Virginia primaries: 43

Days until the Georgia, Idaho, Kentucky and Oregon primaries: 50

Days until the Texas runoffs: 57

Days until the Republican National Convention: 104

Days until the Democratic National Convention: 140

Days until the 2024 election: 218

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Presidential Big Board

THE VEEPSTAKES — The vetting process to be Trump’s vice president is well underway, POLITICO’s Meridith McGraw, Natalie Allison and Burgess Everett report. Trump adviser Susie Wiles is leading the effort to narrow down “a list of around a dozen lawmakers and other Republican personalities,” and the campaign has “already hired an outside firm to vet candidates and prepare research documents.” But don’t hold your breath: “The process is expected to take months,” and “the names under consideration continue to be in flux,” my colleagues write.

TRUMP’S TROUBLES — A significant bloc of voters in exurban and red-leaning counties voted against Trump in this year’s presidential primaries. That shows “warning signs for Trump,” as a “chunk of true Republican voters still wished for someone else to be the party’s nominee,” our Jessica Piper and Zach Montellaro write.

President Joe Biden’s campaign is taking that dissatisfaction as an opening. Biden campaign chair Jen O’Malley Dillon “argued that results out of state Republican primaries — where some voters backed [former U.N. ambassador Nikki] Haley even though she had dropped out of the presidential race — was proof that Haley supporters were getable,” POLITICO’s Elena Schneider and Lauren Egan write. The campaign also cut an ad explicitly wooing Haley supporters.

CAMPAIGN INTEL

CUTTING THE LINE — The New Jersey “county line,” a ballot design that gives party-backed candidates an advantage, won’t be used in the Democratic primary in June, a federal judge ruled on Friday.

It capped off a great week for Democratic Rep. Andy Kim, who sued to scrap the system. Earlier last week, New Jersey first lady Tammy Murphy — his biggest competitor in the Senate primary, who would have benefited the most from the line — dropped out of the race. Still, “it will upend contested primaries across the state — including the House race for the seat held by Democratic Rep. Rob Menendez , who is facing a competitive primary challenge from Hoboken Mayor Ravi Bhalla,” our Daniel Han writes.

County clerks have filed an appeal, arguing that they do not have enough time to change the ballots ahead of the primary. Another logistical concern: The ruling did not apply to the Republican primary, the judge clarified a day after the initial ruling. That means Republicans can use a county line ballot, while Democrats have a different layout.

TRUMP CARD — Republicans are concerned that candidates in battleground seats will be “constantly challenged to answer for their presumptive nominee’s more erratic and boisterous statements,” POLITICO’s Burgess Everett and Olivia Beavers write. “Atop of the list of topics some Republicans want Trump to avoid: his attempts to revise the violent history of the Capitol attack by his supporters and his description of people convicted of riot-related crimes as ‘patriots.’”

2024 WATCH — Democrat Pat Kemp, a Hillsborough County commissioner, is running for FL-15, currently held by Republican Rep. Laurel Lee. Kemp told the Tampa Bay Times’ William March that she was “heavily recruited for the run by national and state-level Democratic organizations.” Trump, who last week called for a “great MAGA Republican” to challenge Lee, would have won the district by around 3 points in 2020.

… Rapper Luther Campbell is considering a primary challenge against Democratic Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick in FL-20, he told The Bulwark’s Marc Caputo.

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AS SEEN ON TV

PA-Sen — Republican Dave McCormick is up with a coordinated spot with the NRSC in which he talks about his time at West Point.

… Democratic Sen. Bob Casey is focusing on “greedflation” and promises to penalize corporations that price gouge.

UT-Sen — Conservative Values for Utah, a super PAC supporting Republican Rep. John Curtis, is touting his conservative positions on immigration, crime, the 2nd Amendment and abortion rights.

… Conservative Outsider PAC, which is boosting Republican Brent Orrin Hatch, the son of late Sen. Orrin Hatch, features a couple saying they “trust him to not try to appease anybody to get in with the cool crowd there” and “not just fall in line.”

IN-Gov — Republican Brad Chambers calls himself a “Reagan Republican” and (positively) invokes former Gov. Mitch Daniels.

WV-Gov — Republican Attorney General Patrick Morrisey is attacking transgender athletes competing in women’s sports.

… Chris Miller, one of Morrisey’s primary opponents, is running a spot that calls the attorney general a “pro-trans liberal.”

IN-03 — Stutzman is up with his first ad, vowing to be an ally for Trump.

PA-12 — Emgage Federal PAC, a Muslim advocacy group, is jumping into the competitive Democratic primary in support of Rep. Summer Lee. The ad says that the attacks against Lee are “funded by a Republican billionaire” — a reference to an attack ad from the Moderate PAC, which received a $1 million donation from GOP megadonor Jeff Yass in 2022 — and lists her endorsements.

CODA: HEADLINE OF THE DAY — "Conservatives shell long-standing White House Easter egg contest" — NBC News

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