Representative Jake LaTurner (R-KS) said Thursday that he will not be running for re-election. He is the latest member of Congress to decide not to run again.
He said in a statement that he would stay in his place until the end of his term but not run for re-election so he could spend more time with his four kids.
The Republican from Kansas wrote, “Being in Congress has made my life very busy, which has hurt me.” There is only one time in our lives like this: when our kids are still young and living at home. I want to be there for it.
Ballotpedia says that 43 members of Congress have either said they won’t run for office again or have stepped down.
LaTurner wrote, “There’s no doubt that the current dysfunction on Capitol Hill is upsetting, but it has been that way for a long time; we just didn’t see most of it.” Besides that, he said he wouldn’t run for office in 2024 or for a state office in 2026. But he gave the impression that he might get back into politics in “another season of life.”
Because LaTurner’s seat suddenly became open, there is now a race for Congress in Kansas’s 2nd district. Patrick Schmidt, the Democrat who ran against LaTurner and lost in 2022, is allegedly running for a seat in the Kansas state legislature.
In 2021, LaTurner beat Rep. Steve Watkins in the election for Congress. Watkins was charged with three felonies of voting fraud in the 2019 municipal elections. It was LaTurner’s fault that the charges were brought against Watkins because he quit his job as state treasurer to run against him.
In 2021, LaTurner voted against giving Arizona’s 11 electoral votes to Joe Biden. He then tested positive for COVID-19 hours later, which meant he missed a vote about Pennsylvania’s electoral votes.
He was a member of the House Oversight and Accountability Committee and the House Appropriations Committee.
