Roughly a third of the leadership across the country’s 99 state legislative chambers have made plans to exit after their current term at the end of the year, according to a report.
Making room for a new group of leaders after the upcoming election, at least 30 state House Speakers, Senate presidents, and majority leaders have either resigned early or have given notice that they plan to retire, according to a tracker maintained by the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL), which the Hill first reported.
South Carolina’s Republican state House Speaker Jay Lucas was the last person in leadership to announce an exit after working over 25 years in the state legislature.
However, it is not uncommon to see a lot of turnover in an election year, especially after some legislators have been there as long as Lucas. Data from NCSL showed 20 speakers and presidents left in 2020, with another four losing elections and 35 hsving left office in 2018.
“As sessions start to wrap up, that is when we start to see leaders make announcements one way or the other,” said Stacy Householder, a director of the NCSL, taking note of the election year’s short legislative sessions. “We’re actually right on par with past election years.”
Some states — Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Michigan, Missouri, and Montana — will see all new leadership teams next year after the elections after seeing their state’s speakers and top senators leave, the Hill noted. While some of them are actually retiring from the public eye, a lot are seeking a different office, such as a governorship, the state’s agriculture commissioner, or a U.S. Senate seat.
Jacob Bliss is a reporter for Breitbart News. You can follow him on Twitter.
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