Two House Democrats Announce Retirement

By SARAH WHEATONJAN. 8, 2014


WASHINGTON — Two House Democrats, Carolyn McCarthy of New York, and Mike McIntyre of North Carolina, on Wednesday announced plans to retire.

While Mrs. McCarthy’s seat is likely to stay in Democratic hands, Mr. McIntyre’s district, which includes Wilmington and other parts of eastern North Carolina, is an almost certain pickup for Republicans.

After 18 years in Congress, Mr. McIntyre said in a news release, he is ready for a “new chapter” in his life.

Republicans saw evidence of Democrats’ vulnerability over the health care law in Mr. McIntyre’s announcement, which comes on the heels of a decision by Representative Jim Matheson, Democrat of Utah, to retire from the House. Yet Mr. McIntyre and Mr. Matheson both voted against the Affordable Care Act.

“This retirement announcement also proves that Obamacare and its negative impact continues to burden Democrats in 2014 — even for Democrats who voted against the law like McIntyre and Matheson,” said Representative Greg Walden, chairman of the Republican Congressional Campaign Committee. “When these two throw in the towel, you have to wonder who is next, especially among those Democrats in similar districts who backed Obamacare and other reckless policies.”

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Carolyn McCarthy Manuel Balce Ceneta/Associated PressStill, more Republicans — nine so far — than Democrats have announced they will not seek re-election this year. The McCarthy and McIntyre announcements bring the number of Democrats to three.

Mrs. McCarthy, one of the most ardent advocates in Congress for gun control, announced her decision on the third anniversary of the shooting that left former Representative Gabrielle Giffords with a severe brain injury and killed six in Tucson.

Mrs. McCarthy’s husband, Dennis, was killed in a mass shooting on the Long Island Rail Road in 1993, leading her to become a gun-control activist. Three years later, she ran for public office, switching parties and becoming a Democrat to challenge a Republican who had voted to repeal the federal assault weapons ban. She won, 57 percent to 41 percent.

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Mike McIntyre J. Scott Applewhite/Associated PressRetirement is “something I’ve been thinking about really for quite a long time,” Mrs. McCarthy said in a telephone interview. She announced in June that she had lung cancer and recently underwent chemotherapy to treat it.

She said that new advocates for gun control — including Ms. Giffords and former Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg of New York — have joined the campaign. “With, unfortunately, my diagnosis of cancer, and I just turned 70 on Sunday, it’s time for their voices to be heard.”

Over her nine terms, she has since seen the assault weapons ban expire, and only one of her major efforts to tighten gun restrictions passed: a bill to significantly improve instant background checks.

Mrs. McCarthy said she was naďve when she first came to Congress, believing it would be easier to pass gun legislation. “I got the conversation going,” she said.

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/09/us...ment.html?_r=0