Everyone else might have already been aware of this, but I just found out that Dennis Kucinich is likely going to be losing his seat in Congress thanks to redistricting in Ohio. It’s amazing to me how the most progressive members of Congress are being picked off one by one thanks to the efforts of opportunistic Republican governors, and zealous corporate interests with deep pockets. In another five years, we may not even have a Congressional Progressive Caucus at all.
Kucinich, for what it’s worth, may not be ready to call it quits just yet. According to the New York Times, he’s considering a move to Washington State, which is picking up two new seats. Here’s a clip:
…Mr. Kucinich is indeed thinking about running, but it would not be another try for president and maybe not even an eighth House race back in Ohio. Instead, the 64-year-old Mr. Kucinich, who first gained fame as the “boy mayor” of Cleveland in the 1970s, is delicately examining the idea of running for Congress here in Washington State next year. Given Ohio’s loss of two House seats, his district is likely to disappear when new map lines are drawn.
But Washington is gaining a seat, and Mr. Kucinich figures his aggressive brand of antiwar, pro-working class politics could sell well in a solidly blue state where he has ideological allies and was popular in his White House bids in 2004 and 2008. It is a somewhat novel idea that could be summed up as: Have seniority, will travel.
“I think the issues that I speak about in terms of economic and social justice and peace and environmental quality are things that concern people all over the country, and I am grateful to be here with people of like mind,” Mr. Kucinich said on Saturday as he joined the crowd outside the bank in the heavily Democratic neighborhood of Wallingford.
While Mr. Kucinich’s case may be the most extreme example, he is not the only member of the House examining options for 2012. As happens every 10 years, the post-census redistricting is causing political dislocation for many incumbents as they watch state legislators chop up their districts…
5 Comments
One of the great legislators of American history, Daniel Webster, was first a Congressman from New Hampshire and later a Senator from Mass. So this plan of Dennis K. certainly has precedent.
And his wife if sooooooo hot!
I’d rather be redistricted out of a job than killed like Wellstone.
Glad to hear that I’m not the only one who thinks some strange activity surrounded Mr. Wellstone’s demise.
Did Kucinich ever say what he was planning to do come November?
One Trackback
[…] Kucinich spoke out about it in the House. [And that, my friends, is how a Congressman goes about getting his district eliminated.] For what it’s worth, Rand Paul also tried to tried to derail it in the Senate, to no avail. […]