KS-02: LaTurner retiring

[GeorgiaModerate]

https://twitter.com/AndrewSolender/status/1781010503516471364
LaTurner is currently the second youngest Republican in Congress.  (Anna Paulina Luna is younger.)

[Atlas Force]

Not even pension eligible, this Congress really sucks THAT bad.

[Tekken_Guy]

https://twitter.com/AndrewSolender/status/1781010503516471364

LaTurner is currently the youngest Republican in Congress.

Second youngest, Luna is younger I believe.

[Atlas Force]

Not in Congress anymore but Santos is also younger lol

[wnwnwn]

Can other candidate still inscribe him/herself for the GOP primary?

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

LaTurner is currently the youngest Republican in Congress.

He also somehow manages to both look like a teenager and middle-aged at the same time.

[Oryxslayer]

Dude really got the state legislature to draw him this monstrosity and then just said nah, I'm not really feeling like it.  Give me downtown KC, my home of Topeka, my base in the SE, but definitely not Lawrence. Oh and I know you want to try and weaken KS-03 rather than just pack it: you guys figure it out.

[Sestak]

These recent classes just really aren’t built for this, huh

[GeorgiaModerate]

https://twitter.com/AndrewSolender/status/1781010503516471364
LaTurner is currently the youngest Republican in Congress.

Second youngest, Luna is younger I believe.

You're correct.  I'll edit the OP.

[Atlas Force]

https://twitter.com/ZacMcCrary/status/1781016740966674486

[Nyvin]

It's really weird he didn't stick it out for a third term to get the pension.

[Tekken_Guy]

It's really weird he didn't stick it out for a third term to get the pension.

There are a lot of class of 2020 folks who I think might check out in 2026 after they get the pension. Spartz seems done and only reversed course for the pension from what I heard. Mace might go to since nobody really likes her either. Byron Donalds and Ronny Jackson seem to be eyeing statewide runs. If Boebert’s still around I wouldn’t be surprised to see her check out and shift to punditry (maybe after a statewide run). MTG might go for a Senate bid, though she’d probably lose a primary, and also pivot to punditry.

[Utah Neolib]

It's really weird he didn't stick it out for a third term to get the pension.

There are a lot of class of 2020 folks who I think might check out in 2026 after they get the pension. Spartz seems done and only reversed course for the pension from what I heard. Mace might go to since nobody really likes her either. Byron Donalds and Ronny Jackson seem to be eyeing statewide runs. If Boebert’s still around I wouldn’t be surprised to see her check out and shift to punditry (maybe after a statewide run). MTG might go for a Senate bid, though she’d probably lose a primary, and also pivot to punditry.

Pension is available to congress members who have served 5 years or longer over the age of 62 or 50 years or older with 20 years of service, 25 years at any age. The ‘three term pension’ is a common misconception.

[Tekken_Guy]

One more thing, I noticed a lot of class of 2020ers are or could be on their way out. Rosendale is also retiring. Carl lost his primary. Gonzales was held to a runoff. A lot of other Republicans have difficult primaries ahead of them like Boebert, Good, Mace, Spartz. Plus Bush and Bowman on the Dem side. Garcia, Valadao, Steel are all vulnerable in generals, as is Mrvan on the Dem side to an extent.

[Tekken_Guy]

It's really weird he didn't stick it out for a third term to get the pension.

There are a lot of class of 2020 folks who I think might check out in 2026 after they get the pension. Spartz seems done and only reversed course for the pension from what I heard. Mace might go to since nobody really likes her either. Byron Donalds and Ronny Jackson seem to be eyeing statewide runs. If Boebert’s still around I wouldn’t be surprised to see her check out and shift to punditry (maybe after a statewide run). MTG might go for a Senate bid, though she’d probably lose a primary, and also pivot to punditry.

Pension is available to congress members who have served 5 years or longer over the age of 62 or 50 years or older with 20 years of service, 25 years at any age. The ‘three term pension’ is a common misconception.

I thought it’s that they qualify for the pension with 5 years, but they just don’t get it until they’re 62.

[Utah Neolib]

It's really weird he didn't stick it out for a third term to get the pension.

There are a lot of class of 2020 folks who I think might check out in 2026 after they get the pension. Spartz seems done and only reversed course for the pension from what I heard. Mace might go to since nobody really likes her either. Byron Donalds and Ronny Jackson seem to be eyeing statewide runs. If Boebert’s still around I wouldn’t be surprised to see her check out and shift to punditry (maybe after a statewide run). MTG might go for a Senate bid, though she’d probably lose a primary, and also pivot to punditry.

Pension is available to congress members who have served 5 years or longer over the age of 62 or 50 years or older with 20 years of service, 25 years at any age. The ‘three term pension’ is a common misconception.

I thought it’s that they qualify for the pension with 5 years, but they just don’t get it until they’re 62.

No it’s 5 years after 62. Jennifer Wexton couldn’t get the pension because of this I believe.

[GeorgiaModerate]

It's really weird he didn't stick it out for a third term to get the pension.

There are a lot of class of 2020 folks who I think might check out in 2026 after they get the pension. Spartz seems done and only reversed course for the pension from what I heard. Mace might go to since nobody really likes her either. Byron Donalds and Ronny Jackson seem to be eyeing statewide runs. If Boebert’s still around I wouldn’t be surprised to see her check out and shift to punditry (maybe after a statewide run). MTG might go for a Senate bid, though she’d probably lose a primary, and also pivot to punditry.

Pension is available to congress members who have served 5 years or longer over the age of 62 or 50 years or older with 20 years of service, 25 years at any age. The ‘three term pension’ is a common misconception.

I thought it’s that they qualify for the pension with 5 years, but they just don’t get it until they’re 62.

No it’s 5 years after 62. Jennifer Wexton couldn’t get the pension because of this I believe.

Tekken_Guy is right on this.  From the Congressional Research Service (an excellent source of information on all things Congressional):

Members become vested in (legally entitled to) a pension benefit under CSRS or FERS after five years of service.

....

There are four possible retirement scenarios for Members who are covered by FERS. Retirement with an immediate, full pension is available to Members aged 62 or older with at least 5 years of federal service; aged 50 or older with at least 20 years of service; and at any age to Members with at least 25 years of service.

Retirement with an immediate, reduced pension is available at the age of 55 to Members born before 1948 with at least 10 years of service. The minimum age will increase to 56 for Members born from 1953 through 1964 and to 57 for those born in 1970 or later.

Retirement with a deferred, full pension is available at the age of 62 to former Members of Congress with at least 5 years of federal service.

Retirement with a deferred, reduced pension is available at the minimum retirement age of 55 to 57 (depending on year of birth) to a former Member who has completed at least 10 years of federal service. The pension annuity will be permanently reduced if it begins before the age of 62.

https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/RL/RL30631

[Nyvin]

It's really weird he didn't stick it out for a third term to get the pension.

There are a lot of class of 2020 folks who I think might check out in 2026 after they get the pension. Spartz seems done and only reversed course for the pension from what I heard. Mace might go to since nobody really likes her either. Byron Donalds and Ronny Jackson seem to be eyeing statewide runs. If Boebert’s still around I wouldn’t be surprised to see her check out and shift to punditry (maybe after a statewide run). MTG might go for a Senate bid, though she’d probably lose a primary, and also pivot to punditry.

Pension is available to congress members who have served 5 years or longer over the age of 62 or 50 years or older with 20 years of service, 25 years at any age. The ‘three term pension’ is a common misconception.

I thought it’s that they qualify for the pension with 5 years, but they just don’t get it until they’re 62.

No it’s 5 years after 62. Jennifer Wexton couldn’t get the pension because of this I believe.

That would be a terrible system and seems incredibly unfair.   Why such an easy giveaway to 62+ year olds but no one else?  Why is a 62 year old's time more valuable than a 40 year old's?

[Indy Texas]

It used to be perfectly normal for people to serve in the House while parenting young children.

Yes, some of this was downstream of virtually all members being men with stay-at-home wives (a female member was often a widow or otherwise an older woman whose children were grown), but it was also downstream of the fact that it was perfectly normal for someone, upon being elected to Congress, to sell their house in their home state/district, buy one in DC or a nearby VA/MD suburb, and live there full time with their wife while sending their children to local schools. If you look at children of politicians (ex. Al Gore, Liz Cheney), notice they were often born in DC and attended school there for at least part of their childhoods. You went back to your district when Congress was in recess.

Newt Gingrich made that verboten. Now you're supposed to have your family and your household away from you the majority of the time while you're living by yourself in a shoebox (unless you're one of the wealthy members who can afford to maintain two or more residences at once), traveling to and from DC and your district multiple times per week.

Is it any shock that members of Congress are increasingly either independently wealthy, elderly empty nesters, or younger people who don't have any children?

[Atlas Force]

It used to be perfectly normal for people to serve in the House while parenting young children.

Yes, some of this was downstream of virtually all members being men with stay-at-home wives (a female member was often a widow or otherwise an older woman whose children were grown), but it was also downstream of the fact that it was perfectly normal for someone, upon being elected to Congress, to sell their house in their home state/district, buy one in DC or a nearby VA/MD suburb, and live there full time with their wife while sending their children to local schools. If you look at children of politicians (ex. Al Gore, Liz Cheney), notice they were often born in DC and attended school there for at least part of their childhoods. You went back to your district when Congress was in recess.

Newt Gingrich made that verboten. Now you're supposed to have your family and your household away from you the majority of the time while you're living by yourself in a shoebox (unless you're one of the wealthy members who can afford to maintain two or more residences at once), traveling to and from DC and your district multiple times per week.

Is it any shock that members of Congress are increasingly either independently wealthy, elderly empty nesters, or younger people who don't have any children?

And yet the minute someone says “hey maybe members of Congress should be paid more so that Congress isn’t exclusively filled with rich people,” way too many people all over the political spectrum will go “NO!!! POLITICIANS BAD!!! GIVING MONEY TO POLITICIANS BAD!!!”

[Open Source Intelligence]

It used to be perfectly normal for people to serve in the House while parenting young children.

Yes, some of this was downstream of virtually all members being men with stay-at-home wives (a female member was often a widow or otherwise an older woman whose children were grown), but it was also downstream of the fact that it was perfectly normal for someone, upon being elected to Congress, to sell their house in their home state/district, buy one in DC or a nearby VA/MD suburb, and live there full time with their wife while sending their children to local schools. If you look at children of politicians (ex. Al Gore, Liz Cheney), notice they were often born in DC and attended school there for at least part of their childhoods. You went back to your district when Congress was in recess.

Newt Gingrich made that verboten. Now you're supposed to have your family and your household away from you the majority of the time while you're living by yourself in a shoebox (unless you're one of the wealthy members who can afford to maintain two or more residences at once), traveling to and from DC and your district multiple times per week.

Is it any shock that members of Congress are increasingly either independently wealthy, elderly empty nesters, or younger people who don't have any children?

And yet the minute someone says “hey maybe members of Congress should be paid more so that Congress isn’t exclusively filled with rich people,” way too many people all over the political spectrum will go “NO!!! POLITICIANS BAD!!! GIVING MONEY TO POLITICIANS BAD!!!”

Can we please not act like Congressmen being paid more would automatically increase the quality of Congressmen? The currency in Washington is not dollars, it's power.

[Schiff for Senate]

It's really weird he didn't stick it out for a third term to get the pension.

There are a lot of class of 2020 folks who I think might check out in 2026 after they get the pension. Spartz seems done and only reversed course for the pension from what I heard. Mace might go to since nobody really likes her either. Byron Donalds and Ronny Jackson seem to be eyeing statewide runs. If Boebert’s still around I wouldn’t be surprised to see her check out and shift to punditry (maybe after a statewide run). MTG might go for a Senate bid, though she’d probably lose a primary, and also pivot to punditry.

I think MTG sticks around in the House. I honestly think if she ran in a Senate primary she'd be hatcheted by the NRSC - they'd be digging their own graves even more obviously than with Walker in 2022 and throwing away an otherwise-very-winnable seat.

If Boebart ran and won the R nomination, it'd be funny to see the statewide result. D+20, maybe? Polis 2.0? And if POLIS was the one running against her, then 25 points, maybe. Lmao.

[JMT]

https://twitter.com/derekschmidtks/status/1783835923244867930?s=46&t=-r8JGlJ...

[Senator Incitatus]

Came in here to immediately Ctrl-F “Kobach”.

[JMT]

Came in here to immediately Ctrl-F “Kobach”.

It doesn’t look like he’s running:

https://www.cjonline.com/story/news/politics/elections/2024/04/18/who-will-run-to-replace-kansas-republican-jake-laturner-in-congress/73375594007/