They’re dropping like flies, aren’t they?
Just after we learned that Republican Rep. Jim Saxton (R-NJ) will retire, we now learn from Roll Call that Barbara Cubin of Wyoming will retire at the end of her team.
The writing was on the wall here for quite some time. Cubin’s disastrous victory against Democrat Gary Trauner in 2006 (she won by a mere 1000 votes and lost 25% of Republicans and a whopping 71% of independents to Trauner) sealed her fate, with the local and GOP aiming to knock her off in a primary. A host of health issues in her family made the decision obvious.
Unlike Saxton’s retirement, which moves his seat into “Lean Dem” territory, Cubin’s retirement is a setback for Democrats, who were relying on the state’s deep dissatisfaction with Cubin’s performance to carry their nominee in the 12th-most Republican district in the country. Still, Gary Trauner will perform strongly here for a Democrat, and there’s no telling how rancorous the GOP primary will be (and how ugly of a cretin that primary will produce).