The job of House leaders in both parties includes trying to get veteran lawmakers to stick around and seek reelection. For House Republican leaders in 2024, it’s a more pressing matter of ensuring they finish out their current terms.

GOP House members’ early departures are aggravating the party’s existing problem of a perilously slim majority. Three previously Republican-held seats, in Colorado, California, and Ohio, are so red that a GOP candidate is sure to replace them in special elections scheduled through late June. The inverse holds in the deep-blue New York 26th Congressional District, based in the Buffalo area. A special election is set for April 30.