Via Hotline On Call comes the news that yet another GOP House member is retiring. South Florida's Lincoln Diaz-Balart is quitting. And, in a classic move, his brother (also a Congressman), Mario, is giving up his seat to run for his brother's safer Republican seat:
Diaz-Balart is the 18th House GOPer to step down, and one of the few who holds a seat that Dems could target. In '08, he defeated Dem Raul Martinez by 16 pointes, even though the DCCC spent money in his Miami-Dade and Broward Co. district.Keeping it all in the family.
The district is heavily Hispanic, thanks to Miami's large Cuban population. 73% of district residents call themselves Hispanic, while just 16% are white. Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) won a narrow 51%-49% victory in the seat.
First elected in '92, Diaz-Balart has had little trouble holding on to his seat. His brother, Mario, represents another heavily-Cuban part of Miami. CongressDaily reports that Mario Diaz-Balart will abandon his district to run in Lincoln's, which is seen as tilting more toward the GOP.
This latest announcement means that 18 GOP House members are retiring. There are 178 Republicans in the House. As Jonathan Singer pointed out on Twitter, this means "More than 1-in-10 House GOPers retiring." One would think the pundits would be wondering why so many Republicans are getting out. But, that might ruin their "GOP is ascendant" story line.
