Rep. Steny Hoyer to announce retirement

Jan. 8 (UPI) — Rep. Steny Hoyer will announce Thursday that he will not run for re-election, a spokesperson said.

Hoyer, D-Md., plans to make his announcement when he speaks on the House floor at 10 a.m. Thursday.

At 86, Hoyer is the longest-serving Democrat in the House, having been elected in 1981. He became deputy whip in 2003.

​​”I did not want to be one of those members who clearly stayed, outstayed his or her ability to do the job,” Hoyer told the Washington Post.

Hoyer was majority leader twice under then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and as her deputy when she was minority leader. In 2022, he quit Democratic leadership when Pelosi did.

Several prominent House Democrats have announced their retirements recently after calls for older members to step down and make way for a new generation.

Pelosi announced her retirement in November; Rep. Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., announced in September that he would retire; Jan Schakowsky, D-Ill., and Dwight Evans, D-Pa., announced their retirements in June.

On Wednesday, Hoyer released a statement against annexing Greenland to counter President Donald Trump’s talk of taking over the world’s largest island, which is part of the Kingdom of Denmark.