On Sept. 23, Rep. Andy Kim (D-N.J) became the 15th U.S. House member not to seek reelection in 2024. Kim, in office since 2019, is retiring to run for the U.S. Senate seat currently held by Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.).
Including Kim, 20 members of Congress—five Senators and 15 Representatives—have announced they will not seek re-election in 2024 as of Oct. 16. This number doesn’t include Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), who had announced her retirement but died on Sept. 29.
The 20 retiring members include 14 Democrats—three in the Senate and 11 in the House—as well as six Republicans—two in the Senate and four in the House.
The same number of U.S. Senators (5) had announced they were not running for re-election at this point in the 2022 election cycle. Four had announced at this point in the 2020 cycle, and one had announced at this point in the 2018 cycle.
The number of U.S. Representatives who have announced they are not running for re-election in 2024 is currently below the average at this point for the three most recent cycles. Twenty-one House members had announced their retirements at this point in the 2022 cycle, 22 had announced their retirements at this point in the 2020 cycle, and 23 had announced at this point in the 2018 cycle.
According to the Brookings Institution, an average of 35 House members retired in every two-year cycle between 1946 and 2020. An average of six Senators retired in that time period.
Of the Senators not running for re-election, Sens. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.), Ben Cardin (D-Md.), Tom Carper (D-Del.), and Mitt Romney (R-Utah) are retiring from public office. U.S. Sen. Mike Braun (R-Ind.) is running for governor of Indiana.
Eleven of the 15 U.S. House members not running for re-election—nine Democrats and two Republicans—are running for the U.S. Senate. These members include seven running for the open seats in California, Delaware, Maryland, Michigan, and Indiana, specifically:
- Reps. Barbara Lee (D), Katie Porter (D), and Adam Schiff (D) are running to replace Feinstein;
- Rep. Lisa Blunt Rochester (D) is running to replace Carper;
- Rep. David Trone (D) is running to replace Cardin;
- Rep. Elissa Slotkin (D) is running to replace Stabenow; and,
- Rep. Jim Banks (R) is running to replace Braun.
And four other House members are challenging incumbent senators:
- Kim is running against Menendez in New Jersey;
- Rep. Alex Mooney (R) is running against Sen. Joe Manchin (D) in West Virginia;
- Rep. Rubén Gallego (D) is running against Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (I) in Arizona; and,
- Rep. Colin Allred (D) is running against Sen. Ted Cruz (R) in Texas.
Additionally, Rep. Dan Bishop (R-N.C.) is running for state attorney general in North Carolina.
Reps. Victoria Spartz (R-Ind.), Grace Napolitano (D-Calif.), and Jennifer Wexton (D-Va.) are the only House incumbents to have announced their retirement from public office.
