“I don’t want people to say I stayed too long,” 87-year old Rep. John Dingell (D-MI) told the Detroit News as rumors of his retirement have been circulating Washington.
Rep. John Dingell (AP photo)
What? You already have, sir, you already have. You’ve been in the House for nearly six decades. You were just 29 years old when you were first elected.
It appears Dingell will become the latest in a series of key Democrat retirements that has included Representatives Henry Waxman and George Miller, two other long-timers.
Incidentally, Dingell’s wife, Debbie,60, is expected to run for her husband’s seat. “She would be the prohibitive favorite in the race,” said Michigan political consultant T.J. Bucholz, adding that she can be “a polarizing figure” in the Democratic Party. A national Democratic strategist and a frequent spokesperson for the party on the Sunday news talk shows, she is a Washington lobbyist, and is chairman of the American Automotive Policy Council’s Manufacturing Initiative.
