MS-03: With Floodgates Open, Pickering Retires (Updated)

According to Roll Call, Republican Rep. Chip Pickering, long considered a potential successor for either Senator Thad Cochran or Trent Lott, has decided to call it quits:

Rep. Chip Pickering (R-Miss.) has decided not to run for re-election in 2008, a knowledgeable source confirmed Thursday afternoon.

Pickering’s office did not return requests for comment Thursday. But a second source said Thursday afternoon that Pickering was scheduled to meet with his staff in his Pearl, Miss., district office at 4 p.m. Central time, apparently to discuss his political future.

[…]

Several viable candidates are expected to seek the GOP nomination to replace Pickering, including termed-out Mississippi Lt. Gov. Amy Tuck, a former Democrat who is scheduled to leave office at the end of this year.

Pickering, only 44 years old, could easily wait another four or six years for a Lott or Cochran retirement.  But perhaps he’s grown tired of waiting after being teased by potential Senate retirements for two cycles in a row.  Or maybe he’s just tired of not raking in the big bucks.  In 2003, Pickering openly mused about leaving Congress in order to take a massive annual paycheck as a telecommunications lobbyist.  It’s possible that Pickering feels, with life in an enduring House minority and no Senate promotion in immediate sight, that now is the time to cash in.

While Democrats held this district for over 100 years before Pickering claimed this open seat in 1996, it has a solid Republican advantage with a PVI of R+14.  Bush twice dominated this district by 64%-35% and 65%-34% margins in 2000 and 2004, respectively.  If there is a glimmer of hope for Democrats, it is that Rep. Gene Taylor, a conservative Democrat, holds a district even redder (R+16, with a 37-point margin of victory for Bush in 2004).  However, it would be a tall order for Democrats to be able to recruit someone with Taylor’s political skills to contest this seat.

To sum it up, we’ve seen three Republican retirements in a week: Hastert, Pryce, and now Pickering.  (Plus the raging rumors surrounding Dave Hobson.)  I wonder how many more surprises are in store for us.

UPDATE: The Clarion-Ledger confirms.  Pickering is outta here!

UPDATE 2: Will it be a retirement or a resignation?  First Read is “getting conflicting signals”, but suggests that “with Pickering heading to work on K Street, he might want to leave Congress before the lobbying/ethics reform legislation is signed into law”.

18 thoughts on “MS-03: With Floodgates Open, Pickering Retires (Updated)”

    1. I did add some more to that post.

      I think a bunch of the Republicans were unopposed and 3 of the Democrats were unopposed too.

      Going through all those profiles really hammers home the point that a ton of people in the late 20s and 30s became Mississippi State legislators in the 1980s.

      Warren is 55 with 27 years in the Mississippi House, for example. Moak is 49 with 23 years of experience (and Moak is apparently the good twin of Lou Dobbs, based on appearance)

      That’s also a problem, because these guys are in leadership spots in the House. So they might prefer being a leader at home than a freshman in DC.

      There might be a Democratic Senator willing to run in the 3rd if we somehow fail to win the Senate in November.

  3. It would be lovely if my long posts didn’t disappear because the page didn’t show up when I tried to post.

    Grrrrr…

    I posted a list of state reps in the district in my diary here.

    Cross off Smith (R) and Rotenberry (R) since they’re having problems with the primaries for their current jobs.

    But, we have the candidates who could make this lively campaign. It’s just a matter of them wanting to run.

  4. First off, at least the Mississippi state government lists the congressional district for their state house members, because the state house map looks like abstract art (If Pablo Picasso were to be elected to office in Mississippi, he would be a natural for the redistricting committee)

    I think House District 97 is a sea dragon. District 84 is a capital G. And so on.

    As for the Senate… I still can’t decipher it. Due to the senatorial districts being in multiple congressional districts and such.

  5. Former Democratic Cong. Ronnie Shows was defeated by Pickering when Mississippi lost a seat in Congress. He would be a potential prospect. Current Democratic nominee for Governor John Arthur Eaves, Jr. also ran against Pickering in the past.

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