With the first debate between President Joe Biden and Donald Trump set for Thursday, much of the nation’s eyes is focusing on the race for the White House.
But it’s also a big year for congressional elections, and already it’s known there will be some attrition with several candidates not mounting reelection bids in 2024 for certain offices.
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Here’s a breakdown of candidates in the Senate and House of Representatives who won’t give it another try for various reasons in 2024, according to Ballotpedia.
Senate
As of now, there will be at least nine new Senators that will take office after 2024. One of offices became vacant after the passing of Democratic California Sen. Diane Feinstein in September.
Another became available when Republican Nebraska Sen. Ben Sasse resigned in January to become the new President at the University of Florida. His seat has been filled by Pete Ricketts until a 2024 special Senate election is held.
In November 2022, Republican Indiana Sen. Mike Braun announced he was running for Governor in Indiana, which opened up another seat.
There are seven other Senators who have decided to retire from public office. They are in alphabetical order, with Democrat or Republican indicated in parenthesis:
- California Sen. Laphonza Butler (D)
- Maryland Sen. Ben Cardin (D)
- Delaware Sen. Tom Carper (D)
- West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin (D)
- Utah Sen. Mitt Romney (R)
- Arizona Sen. Krysten Sinema (I)
- Michigan Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D)
There are 34 seats up for grabs overall in 2024, with 20 currently held by Democrats and 10 by Republicans.
Currently, there are 49 seats held by Republicans and 47 by Democrats, but four Independents primarily align themselves with Democrats during any votes to give that party the majority.
House of Representatives
As of now, there are 45 outgoing members of the House who won’t be seeking reelection. Of those, seven left their seats early.
The most notable ones were California Rep. Kevin McCarthy, who resigned after he was ousted as Speaker of the House, and New York Rep. George Santos, who was expelled from the chamber.
Here’s a breakdown of the other 38 members who aren’t seeking reelection:
- There are 28 members of the House retiring from public office, 16 of which are Republicans.
- There are 12 members of the House running for a seat in the Senate, nine of which are Democrats.
- Five other members of the House are seeking another office, including Democratic Virginia Rep. Abigail Spanberger, who is running for Governor in that state. The others are Democratic Minnesota Rep. Dean Phillips, Democratic North Carolina Rep. Jeff Jackson, North Carolina Republican Rep. Dan Bishop, and North Dakota Republican Rep. Kelly Armstrong.
It should be noted that all 435 seats in the House will be up for grabs, but the members above are simply not seeking reelection.
Republicans enter this year’s election with a 221-213 majority, with one vacant seat.