Several retiring Democrats told POLITICO that the insurrection and the months of personal animosity in the House caused them not to seek reelection.
It started before the attack on the Capitol, but some cross-aisle relationships began to sour earlier in Donald Trump's term, and others began to break down after the Tea Party. Interviews with many House Democrats point to the night of Jan. 6 as the night that broke the House.
More than 140 of their GOP colleagues voted against certifying Joe Biden as president, hours after rioters threatened them with that same goal. Lawmakers lost trust in those votes. It is harder to get anything done on the House floor if you do not have trust.
Bills that used to get bipartisan support, such as government funding or debt limit measures, got no Republican support this year. The Freedom Caucus forced 30 floor votes in a row at one point last month, making it difficult for the chamber to fast-track noncontroversial bills. A bipartisan infrastructure bill that passed the Senate with Minority LeaderMitch McConnell's vote later led to death threats for the 13 House Republicans who supported it.
The legislative stalemate is due to the personal toxicity in the House, which has worsened after the riot. Republicans argue that Democrats abused their power in the wake of Covid and Jan. 6 by fining people who refused to wear a mask on the floor.
Things haven't recovered after Jan. 6, according to Brian Fitzpatrick, who co-leads the bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus. The centrist has faced threats to his life outside of the Capitol.
The natural human instinct is to counter-punch when someone is attacked. Fitzpatrick said there's been more personal attacks.
So far, 23 House Democrats have said they will not run for reelection this year, as the party wrestles with long odds to hold on to the chamber. It's more than the wilderness of the minority driving those retirements, though, as evidenced by the decision of Rep.Stephanie Murphy, who stunned the party by announcing her exit at age 43 after just three terms. Murphy, a member of the House panel investigating, has faced a lot of threats.
If Republicans take back power, other Democrats are worried that the hostility will only get worse.
The question on most Democrats' minds is, "Is the House broken for good?" Some of them don't want to find out.
That is a huge factor. House Budget Chair John Yarmuth, who will retire next year, said in an interview last month that there are several more people who are trying to decide whether to go.
Ron Kind, who is retiring after 24 years in office, said it was difficult to come out here and be bitter. It is sad, but it is all true.
Democrats point to the final day of the session in 2021. The debate on the bill was derailed by the false accusation that Rep. Ilhan Omar had ties to terrorist groups. The remarks were deemed to be a violation of decorum and so they were struck from the congressional record.
In 1856, pro-slavery Rep. PrestonBrooks physically attacked anti-slavery Sen. Charles Sumner.
Rep. Peter Welch had a brush with the rules of decorum when he delivered a fiery floor speech about then- President George W. Bush's handling of Iraq.
He said he got overheated and forgot his precise words. The Republican leading debate that day, Illinois Rep. Ray LaHood, offered a re-do in a very gentle way. The Democrat apologized.
There are roughly three dozen members of both parties who won't return to the House in 2023. Peter DeFazio has been outspoken about what he sees as the erosion of regular order during his 34 years in office.
The backlash against the 13 GOP lawmakers who backed Biden's infrastructure deal is just nuts. When asked if he believed any House Republican leader could cool the mood after the elections, DeFazio said he didn't see anyone on their side.
The leadership over there are all affected by Trump.
David Price, a senior spending leader who is retiring next year after three decades in the House, said that the personal dynamic has begun to affect appropriations.
Republicans argue that Democrats have not sought to deescalate. Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other Democrats claim threats to Congress were from within, and that party leaders increased security in the chamber.
"I've never seen it so bad when it comes to hyperpartisanship," said Rep. Davis, arguing that Democrats' addition of metal detectors outside the chamber doors wasn't justified. Democrats accused GOP lawmakers of aiding the Jan. 6 rioters despite no evidence that any sitting members were involved.
Democrats are looking for information from several House Republicans about their communications with Trump and his associates, though no one has been accused of being involved in the riots. Democrats are moving to strip two Republican congressmen of their committee spots because of their social media posts.
The sanctions were denounced by both the right and center wings of the conference, with some warning of a potential backlash under a GOP majority. Democrats say they were forced to take action after Kevin McCarthy said he wouldn't. They said that the possibility of violence stopped being hypothetical in a year like 2021.
"That was a last straw for them," said Bustos of her husband and three sons. I wish I could say that Jan. 6 was the end of it all. Unfortunately, it continues to grow.
The report was contributed to by two people.
