First it was Rep. Vic Snyder who has decided that retirement had its allures. Now, another Arkansas Congressman has decided to hang them up.
Chris Cillizza's The Fix is reporting that Rep. Marion Berry will call it quits:
Arkansas Rep. Marion Berry is expected to announce his retirement tomorrow morning, according to three sources briefed on the decision.Berry will become the sixth Democrat in a competitive seat to leave in the last two months but the first to announce his retirement since the party's special election loss in Massachusetts last Tuesday.
"The message coming out of the Massachusetts special election is clear: No Democrat is safe," said National Republican Congressional Committee communications director Ken Spain.
Berry, first elected in 1996, had been noncommittal about his re-election bid for months although, privately, his allies insisted he was planning to run for re-election.
While Berry had rarely been challenged in the 1st district over the past decade or so, the seat has a clear Republican tilt as Arizona Sen. John McCain (R) won it with 59 percent in 2008.
Arkansas will be a huge focus of Republican efforts in the fall with Berry and Rep. Vic Snyder (D) retiring and Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D) in deep trouble as she seek re-election.
Good point about Lincoln who has agonized over several liberal agenda items, but most publicly over Obamacare. Her vote to help pass the senate version went down like castor oil in the increasingly red state of Arkansas. Latest polls have her neck and neck with several Republican challengers - a bad sign for any incumbent.
The GOP should have a very good shot at carrying a district that voted 59% for John McCain. They have a similarly fine opportunity in the other districts where Democrats are retiring. We'll see over the next couple of weeks if more of Berry's colleagues will be joining him at Shady Acres.
Hat Tip: Ed Lasky
Share