Posted on 02/18/2014 11:41:05 AM PST by cotton1706
Rep. Rush D. Holt, the New Jersey Democrat who last year lost a special-election primary to now-Sen. Cory Booker, announced Tuesday he will not seek re-election to a ninth term.
Holt, a physicist-turned-congressman, is the third member of the New Jersey delegation to either resign or not seek re-election in 2014. His 12th District, which includes Trenton, is not competitive for Republicans.
“There is no hidden motive for my decision,” Holt said in a statement to supporters. “As friends who have worked with me know, I have never thought that the primary purpose of my work was re-election and I have never intended to make service in the House my entire career. For a variety of reasons, personal and professional, all of them positive and optimistic, the end of this year seems to me to be the right time to step aside and ask the voters to select the next representative.”
Holt first announced his retirement in an interview with The New York Times.
Holt’s announcement comes on the same day Rep. Robert E. Andrews’ resignation became effective. Last year, GOP Rep. Jon Runyan of New Jersey announced he would not seek re-election in 2014.
Holt now becomes the 19th House member to retire this cycle and not seek another office. For a full list of retirements check out Roll Call’s Casualty List.
New Jersey’s 12th District is rated a Safe Democrat contest by Rothenberg Political Report/Roll Call. President Barack Obama carried the district by a 35-point margin in 2012.
(Excerpt) Read more at atr.rollcall.com ...
“President Barack Obama carried the district by a 35-point margin in 2012.”
Just proves folks from New Jersey are stupid.
CONFISCATE all assets from any politician leaving office for the debt damage they have inflicted on the republic.
PART of the solution to socialism. $ocialism Is Legal Plunder - Bastiat
Yeah, because democRATS are all about being above board & truthful.
bfl
I don’t care if it is a demo district, the tea party needs to puts a candidate up. Prepare for the future.
Just proves folks from New Jersey are stupid.
Let x=percentage of votes Holt received.
x-35=percentage of votes Holt's opponent received.
Assuming negligible 3rd party votes, x+(x-35)=100
2x-35=100
2x=135
x=135/2
x=67.5
and x-35=32.5
So, Holt got 67.5% of the vote, which means that only about 2/3 of the folks in New Jersey are stupid. Having lived here for 3 and a half decades, I wholeheartedly agree.
Rush Holt has been up there for 8 terms making decisions that affect my life and I have never heard his name until just now.
-Term Limits
“I don’t care if it is a demo district, the tea party needs to puts a candidate up. Prepare for the future.”
And with California’s new cross nomination law, if there’s a crowded democratic primary, the top two vote-getters COULD be republicans. So then the people of the district would have to choose between a republican and a republican.
So it’s definitely worth the shot!
He's got his generous pension, health care and bennies for the rest of his life, so, like Alfred E. Newman on the cover of Mad Magazine...."What? Me worry?"
Leni
Dist 12 has usually had Republicans. According to Wikipedia.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Jersey’s_12th_congressional_district
However looking at the latest redistricting, it might go either way this election, I’ll be watching this race.
Zero won 58.0% of the vote in the state, so it looks like they're smarter than you think.
The 12th includes Trenton, Princeton and New Brunswick. It's pretty much hopeless for a Republican, by design. Holt was my congresscritter a couple of re-districtings ago -- I needed to contact his office about something and his staff was completely useless. I'd say it would be hard to do any worse than Holt, but it's New Jersey so the 'rats probably will.
No doubt he's looking at a mid-six figure consulting gig in DC in addition to his pension and bennies.
One thing that factors into many, if not all, of these House Democrats' decisions not to seek re-election is the handwriting on the wall: they know that, despite Nancy Pelosi's and others' occasional outbursts to the contrary, their chances of winning a majority in the House this year are slim at best. (Another indicator is that Debbie Wasserman Schultz's mouth seems to be uncharacteristically silent on the matter.)
IIRC, the number of current House Democrats who have already announced they will retire is into the teens.
Everybody knows Obama's botched October healthcare rollout was giving Democrats so much agita, they could hardly keep track of their vast offshore holdings. Millions could have been lost into the pockets of snarky investment counselors "aggregating the numbers," but Democrats were so besieged by falling poll numbers, they would never even know it.
Sniffle.
So what happened was the compassionate White House graciously sent its chief of staff Denis McDonough to hold an unpublicized meeting with Sen. Michael Bennet (DIM-Colo), chairman of the Senate Democrats’ campaign arm.
Alas, it was not pretty---Denis was met w/ Democrats' anger and anxiety that O/Care’s costly train wreck rollout could actually cost their party its majority at midterms.
Denis and Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) Chair Bennet discussed what the helpful White House could possibly do for vulnerable Senate Democrats.
Talk revolved around Democrats developing a "stronger relationship" with the White House. But this cockamamie idea was quickly discarded. After all, Democrats reasoned, who would believe a ditzy story like that...other than the brain dead MSM.
Democrats whined that Obama was not sympathetic enough to their plight. After the Republican-led government shutdown, Dems had been super-confident they would retain the Senate, maybe even regain the House......but, that optimism vanished as O/Care problems kept mounting and multiplying.
Speaker wannabe Nancy Pelosi disconsolately went back to sucking-up everything in sight.
COS Denis valiantly tried to calm ballistic Senators, saying off-the-record: “I know these guys are nervous as hell. I mean, all of their jobs are on the line, because Obamacare is the only thing making the biggest political waves. It’s a nightmare.”
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WATTA RELIEF--DEMOCRATS COME UP WITH THE ONLY WORKABLE SOLUTION Obama recently announced the White House's 2014 Senate strategy: "Keep Obama away." The extensive midterm campaign strategy is built around one unavoidable fact: Hardly any candidates in the most competitive states want President Barack Obama anywhere near them on the campaign trail.
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Poster cackles---hums theme from "Jaws."
So what's the reason for the 21 Republicans who are pulling the plug?
“President Barack Obama carried the district by a 35-point margin in 2012.”
Just proves folks from New Jersey are stupid.
No...what it shows is how a geographically small but high population Democrat urban area like Trenton can totally outgun the Republican areas that cover most of the rest of the district.
The exact same thing would happen if we eliminated the Electoral College in Presidential elections
Thanks justiceseeker93.
A physicist by education - probably could no longer stomach representing a party which pushes such an obvious scam as the scientifically absurd “global warming”.....
Their chances at a net gain of 5 seats are "slim". Their chances at gaining majority are non-existent and always were.
Anyway too bad this seat is safe rat (since the last remap). I wish Collin Peterson of MN would retire, we'd take his seat.
Also a safe rat seat but a more interesting retirement, a rat FRESHMAN in Cali, Gloria Negrete McLeod, is quitting to run for county supervisor! She's in her 70's, very old for a freshman.
She is the 2nd member this cycle to run for lower office, 2 term Republican Tim Griffin of ARK announced his retirement and later launched a bid for LT. Governor.
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