Texas Republican congressman to retire, marking the 10th GOP representative to step away

By Associated Press
Published: Aug 5, 2019 10:35 a.m. ET

Rep. Kenny Marchant, an eight-term veteran, plans to announce his decision to retire on Monday

Charles Dharapak
Rep. Kenny Marchant speaks at a congressional hearing.


WASHINGTON (AP) — Yet another Texas Republican congressman is announcing his retirement, two GOP officials said Monday, as the party’s mounting departures make it increasingly unlikely it will be able to regain the House majority in next year’s elections.

Rep. Kenny Marchant, an eight-term veteran, planned to announce his decision on Monday, the officials said. That would make him the 10th GOP representative to say he won’t run for re-election next year and the seventh in the past two weeks.

He’s also the fifth Texas GOP congressman to say he is leaving. While Texas has been reliably Republican for decades, the state has been trending toward Democrats lately, especially in its growing suburbs.

Marchant, 68, was reelected by a three-percentage-point margin last year from his suburban district between Dallas and Fort Worth. He’d won by 17 percentage points in 2016 and by 33 percentage points in 2014.

Last November, a pair of Democratic challengers defeated GOP incumbents in the Dallas and Houston suburbs.

Republican Sen. Ted Cruz defeated his Democratic challenger, then-Rep. Beto O’Rourke, by just three percentage points.

Marchant’s plans were described by Republican officials who weren’t authorized to publicly disclose the information.

https://www.marketwatch.com/story/te...way-2019-08-05