Republican House Rep. Larry Bucshon announced Monday that he’s not seeking re-election to Indiana’s Eighth District this year and will instead retire from Congress. He didn’t offer a specific reason, but he did reference The Byrds:
“Scripture teaches us, ‘For everything there is a season,’ and it became clear to me over the Christmas holiday with much discernment and prayer that the time has come to bring my season in public service to a conclusion.”
House Republicans are retiring in droves, which is the subject of a hilarious series I’m covering. All this sinking ship-fleeing is usually a sign that a political party believes it’s about to get crushed in an upcoming election. It’s not as much fun serving in the minority. Of course, it’s not much fun serving in the current MAGA majority, as even House Republicans are admitting that their caucus is useless and can’t get anything done.
Buschon denounced the nihilists who booted Kevin McCarthy as speaker last year. “Instead of continuing our work to pass all 12 appropriations bills that cut spending, securing the southern border, and holding the Biden Administration accountable, we are taking our eye off the ball and derailing our conservative agenda,” he said. “The only reason we are here is because a small number of House Republicans are focused on settling personal vendettas and prioritizing their own personal political ambitions rather than prioritizing conservative governance.”
Perhaps he’s learned that there is no real “conservative agenda” to derail. The “personal vendettas” and “personal political ambitions” aren’t a distraction. It’s the whole point.
Indiana’s Eighth was once a fairly competitive district within the hard-right state. It had even earned the nickname “the Bloody Eighth.” When Buschon first won his seat, he was considered the underdog candidate. John McCain had just narrowly won the district while losing Indiana overall to Barack Obama, the first Democratic presidential nominee to carry the state since 1964. Democratic incumbent Rep. Brad Ellsworth had won re-election in 2008 65 to 35. Democratic political power was on the rise … but then came 2010 and the shellacking heard around the nation. Ellsworth vacated his House seat to run for the Senate but lost badly to Dan Coats — not even carrying his former district. Buschon easily prevailed against Democratic candidate Trent Van Haaften.
So Buschon came in with the Tea Party revolution and leaves amid the ruined debris of the Republican Party. He’s one of the minority of Republicans who didn’t vote to overturn the 2020 election.
After the January 6 Capitol attack, Buschon condemned Trump’s inflammatory rhetoric on the House floor.
“I was prepared to join some of my colleagues in objecting to certain states that clearly had election process issues and/or questions of concern in order to further the debate on a path forward—until today,” he said. “Due to this, along with the actions of the President yesterday and his harsh unfounded criticism of my friend Vice President Mike Pence, I have voted against the objections to the Electoral College votes legally submitted by the states.”
Of course, he immediately voted against impeaching Trump and actually holding him accountable for his actions. He later invested money in Trump’s low-rent social media site. He also voted against the January 6 commission.
Buschon won his last election by more than 30 percentage points. However, he didn’t reflexively vote against Biden’s positions. He was conservative, but he probably at least read and comprehended the proposed legislation. We can safely assume his replacement next year will be a far worse MAGA nightmare.
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"Buschon denounced the nihilists who booted Kevin McCarthy as speaker last year. 'Instead of continuing our work to pass all 12 appropriations bills that cut spending, [yadda, yadda...]'"
Funny, my memory is that instead of spending July passing appropriations bills like they were supposed to McCarthy had the House spending the first half of July passing culture war messaging bills then they all took a 2 month vacation. And acted surprised when they returned to a 2 week funding deadline.
Wouldn’t it be funny if the republicans ran some whack job MAGAt and democrats ran a normal person and reasonable people voted for the normal person in all these vacated districts? BWAHAHAHAHA