Blue Wave Sends Top Republican Fleeing The Trump Sinking Ship As Rep. Ed Royce Retires

Rep. Ed Royce (R-CA) the powerful chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee has announced that he will retire instead of trying to defend a seat in a district that Hillary Clinton won in 2016.

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Royce has seen his advantage in the district to less than two points in 2016, and he is up against his term limit on his committee chairmanship, so the retirement makes some sense, especially given the political climate that is strongly favoring Democrats in the midterm election. Royce has been in the House since 1993, and his retirement is part of growing trend of powerful Republicans who are heading for the exits.

Rep. Royce is 8th House Republican committee chair to retire:

Royce is also the 31st House Republican to retire ahead of the midterm:

Democrats already stood a chance of picking up the seat, but now that Royce isn’t running, they should be favored to flip it blue.

Incumbents who don’t think that a wave is coming against them don’t retire in such high numbers. Experienced chairmen are retiring, which suggests that they aren’t interested in sticking around to serve in the House minority.

The Democratic wave is coming, and Republicans don’t look very confident that they’ll be able to stop it.

Jason Easley

Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.

Awards and  Professional Memberships

Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association