House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer is confident that Democrats will regain control of the U.S. House of Representatives in 2012, despite 17 House Democrats announcing they will either retire or seek another office during this cycle. Longtime Massachusetts Rep. Barney Frank became the latest retiree Monday, as he announced he will not be seeking re-election in 2012.
“I fully expect us to take back the House,” Hoyer said in a statement to reporters Tuesday, reports Politico.
“We have excellent candidates around the country,” the second ranking House Democrat added.
Hoyer filed his re-election papers Monday, he has represented Maryland’s 5th congressional district since 1981.
The Maryland Democrat also noted that there have been less retirees at this point in the political calendar than there were in 1994, when Republicans took control of the House after a 40 year run by Democrats.
The House minority whip was not surprised by the retirement announcement from Frank after 16 terms in office.
“While I was saddened, I was not shocked,” Hoyer said regarding Frank’s decision to retire. “He just wasn’t sure he wanted to make that effort.”
Both Democrats and Republicans have received heightened media attention in recent weeks regarding a “60 Minutes” special that suggested many lawmakers were involved in insider trading, using their knowledge of pending legislation to make purchases and sales on the open stock market.
When a reporter pointed out to Hoyer that the current top three Democrats were all in their seventies, the number 2 Democrat responded, “Be careful now, we’re 55 million strong and we’ll getcha!”
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and Assistant Minority Leader Jim Clyburn are both 71, and Hoyer is 72.
Hoyer was also critical of the 2012 Republican presidential candidates, suggesting that their weekly debates are “helping us greatly,” also calling former House Speaker Newt Gingrich the “candidate of the week,” referring to Gingrich’s recent surge in national opinion polls.
The National Republican Congressional Committee responded candidly to Hoyer’s 2012 prediction Tuesday.
“It must be painful for Steny Hoyer to keep a straight face while he cheerleads for Nancy Pelosi’s campaign to become Speaker again,” Paul Lindsay Communications Director for the NRCC said Tuesday in a statement obtained by FOX News.
“Apparently the decades he has spent in Washington have blinded him from the reality that House Democrats are choosing to abandon ship rather than face another round of punishment from voters in 2012,” Lindsay added.
