By the beginning of 2010, 14 Republicans and 10 Democrats in the House of Representatives had announced that they planned to retire. Another House member, a Democrat from Florida, had already resigned. In the Senate, six Republicans and four Democrats had decided to step down. The ranks of the retirees included well-known names such as Byron Dorgan, Democratic Senator for North Dakota, and Christopher Dodd, Democratic Senator for Connecticut. Dodd had served since 1981 and is the chairman of the Senate banking committee. He made a short-lived bid to secure the 2008 Democratic Party presidential nomination.
When Dorgan made his announcement, the New Republic, a left-leaning periodical, described it as ‘a thunderclap moment’ (Dionne 2010).
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