Perlmutter becomes the 26th House Democrat this cycle to announce retirement or a bid for another office rather than run for reelection in November’s midterms, when the party tries to defend its razor-thin majority in the House amid a rough political climate. The GOP needs a net gain of just five seats in the 435-member chamber next year to regain the House majority it lost to the Democrats in the 2018 midterms.
Republicans have history on their side — on average the party that wins the White House in a presidential election loses more than 25 House seats in the ensuing midterm election.
And last month’s major setback for President Biden and congressional Democrats in their push to pass a sweeping social spending bill, along with the five-month downward spiral of the president’s poll numbers, is also doing House Democrats no favors as try to keep the majority next November.