Two members of Congress who handle telecom and broadcast issues plan to leave their positions. Rep. Anna Eshoo (D-CA), a senior member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee who has been instrumental on spectrum policy issues, will not seek re-election after 30 years in office. Fellow committee member Rep. Bill Johnson (R-OH), is resigning to take a job as president of Youngstown State University.
“I’m choosing this beautiful season of Thanksgiving to announce that I will not be seeking reelection,” Eshoo said in a video on X, formerly known as Twitter. “And I do so with a heart filled with unending gratitude to you, my magnificent constituents.”
Eshoo’s retirement will likely kick off a fierce race for her seat in California’s 16th Congressional District, which encompasses Silicon Valley as well as parts of Santa Jose and San Mateo County. It is a safe Democratic seat that the 80-year-old has occupied since being elected in 1992 as the first woman and Democrat to ever represent the area, according to the Associated Press.
Eshoo joins more than a dozen House Democrats who are opting to retire or run for another office next year. She said that she made her decision after reflecting on her record of accomplishments in the chamber, including her time as a senior member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee. “I’m very proud of the body of bipartisan work I’ve been able to achieve on your behalf in the Congress,” Eshoo said in a message to her constituents. She said she’ll be leaving public office with more than 60 bills she introduced having been signed into law.
“I had the honor of serving in Congress with Anna and to say she will be missed is an understatement,” said INCOMPAS CEO Chip Pickering. “Her time in Congress was marked by three decades of tirelessly advocating for her constituents in California, and pushing forward bipartisan policies that have shaped our telecommunications history and paved the way forward for its future. Even after my time with her in the halls of Congress, we remained friends and worked together to continue to advance America’s position as the global leader in technology and work to ensure Internet for All.”
Johnson was first elected to represent the Buckeye’s State’s 6th District in 2010, notes Roll Call. He said in a statement he will continue to serve in the House “for several more months” and that the decision to leave was “extremely difficult.” In the 118th Congress, Johnson took over as chairman of the House Energy & Commerce Committee’s Subcommittee on Environment, Manufacturing, and Critical Minerals.
The website Mahoning Matters reported Johnson would be paid $410,000 annually and needs to start at the university by March 15. Members of the House are paid $174,000 a year in 2023, according to Congressional Research Service.
“I will continue serving in the House for several more months, and you will see no let up,” Johnson wrote on the social media platform X. “There is still much left on my agenda to do before I depart Congress, including doing all I can to help pass tax exemption legislation to benefit the people of East Palestine … and advance a responsible budget and spending package for the remainder of this fiscal year.”
Thirty-one House Members and seven Senators have said they intend to leave Congress, according to Axios.
By Leslie Stimson, Inside Towers Washington Bureau Chief
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