Rep. John Kline, R-Minn., announced on Thursday that he would not seek re-election. Observers expect the retirement to trigger a firestorm in which national Republicans attempt to prevent the conservative wing of the party from converting a seat, and Democrats hope to emerge with their own winner.
Kline, an eight-term member assigned to chair the House Committee on Education and the Workforce in 2011, is one of House Speaker John Boehner’s staunchest allies in the chamber, consistently helping him to pass legislation even when a majority of their Republican colleagues opposed it. That earned him favor both with Boehner and with President Obama, who issued a statement praising Kline.
“John’s never been afraid to stand up for what he believes in,” Obama said, adding that Kline has a “willingness to work together with anybody — Republican or Democrat — who has the best interests of our students at heart.”
Some Republicans say this approach is necessary to perform well in Kline’s second congressional district of Minnesota. Though he won with 56.1 percent of the vote to 38.9 percent for his opponent in 2014, Obama won the same district by one-tenth of a percent — 49.1 to 49.0 — in 2012.
However, Kline’s record — and his style — rubbed many of his constituents the wrong way.
“John Kline was most well known for his arrogance and disinterest in responding to people’s concerns,” said Jack Rogers, president of the Minnesota Tea Party Alliance, in comments to the Washington Examiner. “Elitism and arrogance were his mantra. He felt he was beyond the touch of the people. He said, ‘I have money, I have connections, I don’t need you.'”
“It was disheartening to see somebody who took an oath of office, committed to serve — his commitment was to be a politician rather than a statesmen,” Rogers said.
That feeling resulted in intra-party challenges for Kline from businessman David Gerson in both 2012 and 2014. Kline emerged victorious each time.
This year, Gerson announced that he would challenge Kline for a third time in 2016. But with Kline’s announcement, a spate of new challengers are considering whether to jump in. On the Republican side, those challengers include Minnesota State Reps. Steve Drazkowski and Tony Albright, and Sens. Eric Pratt and Dave Thompson.
“I get the sense that people increasingly feel that their elected officials forget about them when they go to Washington, and I expect that sentiment will be expressed in the upcoming election,” Rep. Drazkowski told the Examiner. He said voters were looking for candidates who would put “freedom” ahead of the “political class.”
Because of the competitive nature of the district, the eventual Republican nominee will also be a target for national Democrats. Even before Kline announced his retirement, two Democrats — neither of whom have previously held elected office — had already announced their intentions to compete for the seat. One, physician Mary Lawrence, loaned her campaign $500,000 in the second quarter of 2015, an indicator of how much interested stakeholders are willing to invest as the election rolls forward.
For his part, Kline said in a statement that he would spend the remainder of his time in Congress focusing on education, the Department of Veterans Affairs, and the economy.
“We must not lose focus on the critical work of reining in runaway federal spending, deficits, and debt that continue to delay our economic recovery,” Kline said, adding “it has been, and will continue to be, a privilege serving the men and women of Minnesota’s 2nd District for the next 16 months.”
