The campaign arm for House Democrats hailed Rep. Jim Gerlach’s (R-PA) decision to not seek another term as the latest sign that moderate Republicans are “jumping ship” within the Republican Party.
Gerlach announced Monday that he would not run for another term.
“John Boehner and the Tea Party put up the ‘No Moderates Allowed’ sign on their caucus and now the few remaining moderates are jumping ship from a Congress that is so broken that its leaders have already admitted they will do nothing this year to help hardworking families,” Democratic Congressional Committee Chairman Rep. Steve Israel (D-NY) said in a statement on Monday.
Israel went on to list a trio of other House Republicans who recently announced that they would not run for reelection.
“Jim Gerlach marks the twelfth Republican to retire or resign, joining others like Tom Latham, Jon Runyan and Frank Wolf who have decided to retire rather than continue to defend this indefensible Republican Congress’s reckless dysfunction that is hurting the middle class and failing to create jobs,” Israel said.
Israel argued that Gerlach’s announcement leaves Democrats with a big opportunity to pick up a swing district. Gerlach’s sixth congressional district went for Mitt Romney in the 2012 presidential election and President Barack Obama in 2008.
“As these Republicans jump ship, Democrats’ battlefield for 2014 continues to expand,” Israel said. “Republicans now have to defend this competitive district because the Democratic candidate will be committed to strengthening the middle class, focusing on job creation and taking commonsense steps like increasing the minimum wage, while the Republican candidate will be beholden to the same type of Republicans who now run this dysfunctional Republican Congress.”
