Republican Rep. Steven LaTourette (R-OH) cited the state of partisan politics as his reason for not seeking re-election this November, saying that “people are more interested in fighting with each other than they are with getting the no-brainers done and governing.”
LaTourette, who has represented Ohio’s 14th district for nine terms, announced Tuesday that he will be retiring after the current one. “The atmosphere today, and the reality that exists in the House of Representatives, no longer encourages the finding of common ground,” he said, adding that “words like compromise have been considered to be dirty words.”
According to The Wall Street Journal, LaTourette also described the climate as getting “progressively worse,” especially because of redistricting. “It’s worse because the margins are never very big,” he said. “Everything is always at stake. People are afraid if they compromise on any issue, it’s a sign of weakness.”
On PoliticsNation, the Rev. Al Sharpton pointed out that LaTourette is hardly the first Republican to lament the partisanship that’s taken hold in the party. Rep. Richard Hanna (R-NY) recently said: “I have to say that I’m frustrated by how much we—I mean the Republican party—are willing to give deferential treatment to our extremes in this moment in history.” And Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-ME) has also noted the “atmosphere of polarization and ‘my way or the highway ideologies.’”
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