The late Democratic Virginia Rep. Gerry Connolly was, by all accounts, one of the kindest members of Congress, and he will be missed personally by his colleagues on both sides of the aisle. Normally, the death of a congress member would not be noteworthy other than on a personal level. But Connolly was the third Democrat in the House to die since the 119th Congress gaveled into session less than five months ago.
Perhaps this is just a mere sad run of misfortune for Democrats, but it seems more significant than that. Of the past nine congressional deaths, eight have been Democrats. The lone Republican who died was killed in a car crash, which no one could have foretold. Looking back further, of 45 members of Congress who have died in office since 2000, 30 have been Democrats and only 15 have been Republicans. The numbers are obviously lopsided. Democrats don’t hold two-thirds of the seats, so why do they account for two-thirds of the deaths?
