Democratic Rep Announces He’s Resigning

In 2024, the Democratic Party will face a challenging election cycle. The party’s chances in the Senate appear poor, and President Joe Biden is losing support. Now, a House lawmaker has said he’ll be leaving office in February.

Rep. Brian Higgins (D-NY) announced his resignation from Congress on November 12. He cited “institutional norms have been compromised” in Congress as the reason for his departure. That, according to the 64-year-old politician who has represented Buffalo and Niagara Falls as part of New York’s 26th US Congressional District, he said, is only the beginning of a bad trend.

Working in Congress, according to Higgins, was the “honor of a lifetime,” but he never “lingered on Capitol Hill” after hours. Instead, he takes the first flight home every week because he enjoys spending time in Western New York and it serves as a constant reminder of why he decided to run for Congress in the first place. He continued by saying that too many politicians are interested just on being in the headlines.

According to the New York Times, Higgins attributes the dysfunction in DC to Republicans seeking “viral moments” by introducing and voting on contentious amendments and delivering combative floor speeches. Conservative members of his party, he said, were “weaponiz[ing] the legislation-making process.” And he continued, “House leadership has failed miserably.” He accused them of being “poster child[ren] for dysfunction.”

State Senator Tim Kennedy (D) indicated he’s going to try to pick up where Higgins leaves off. He plans to run for the open 26th Congressional District seat. After praising Higgins for bringing new prospects to Western New York in a post on X (now Twitter), he decided to run for Congress in order to remain in the region. John F. Kennedy declared his intention to work “against the extremist Republican agenda.”

To fill Higgins’s seat, Democratic New York Governor Kathy Hochul will call for a special election in 2019.