Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., pushed back against accusations of having been in office too long ahead of a primary race against challenger Evan Turnage and amid broader conversations in the Democratic Party on age and leadership.<\/p>\n
Turnage, 33, needled Thompson\u2019s extensive tenure in Congress,<\/a> noting in a campaign ad that the incumbent had served in office for the vast majority of his life.<\/p>\n “We live in the poorest district in the poorest state<\/a> in the country. That was true when I was one when our congressman was first elected. It\u2019s true today,” Turnage said.<\/p>\n “If our congressman\u2019s 33 years in office had helped build up this district, built health and wealth in this district, there would be no need for change.”<\/p>\n GABBARD BLASTS DEMOCRAT BENNIE THOMPSON FOR CALLING NATIONAL GUARD SHOOTING AN \u2018UNFORTUNATE ACCIDENT\u2019<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n Thompson, 78, fired back on Monday.<\/p>\n “Elections are about giving people<\/a> a choice, and I respect that process,” Thompson said in a statement to Fox News Digital.<\/p>\n “I have always run my campaigns by focusing on the needs of the people of Mississippi’s Second Congressional District and the work we’ve done together.”<\/p>\n FIVE SLEEPER RACES THAT COULD UPEND 2026 \u2013 FROM PENNSYLVANIA\u2019S ALLEGHENIES TO NEW MEXICO<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n Turnage\u2019s focus on Thompson\u2019s tenure comes as several senior Democrats have announced that 2026 will be their last year in office.<\/p>\n Among them, former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and her second in command, Steny Hoyer, D-Md., have both announced they will not pursue another term come the November midterm elections.<\/p>\n Other notable departures include Rep. Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., and Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H.<\/p>\n \u2018PEOPLE ARE SICK OF THE SAME OLD THING\u2019: MAXINE WATERS FACES PRIMARY FROM DEMOCRAT 34 YEARS HER JUNIOR<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n Among that group, their average age<\/a> is 81 years old.<\/p>\n Although the crowd of resignations also includes members who have given up their seats to pursue a higher office, Capitol Hill has seen a historic number of departures in the 119th Congress \u2014 the highest rate since 2018.<\/p>\n But Thompson, the ranking member on the House Homeland Security Committee,<\/a> doesn\u2019t intend to join them.<\/p>\n If Democrats take control of the House of Representatives in the midterms, Thompson would likely find himself the chairman of Homeland Security.<\/p>\n “There is always more to be done, and I remain committed to continuing that progress. Ultimately, I trust the voters of the district to look at the record and make the choice they believe is best for their communities,” Thompson said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., pushed back against accusations of having been in office too long ahead of a primary race against challenger Evan Turnage and amid broader conversations in the Democratic Party on age and leadership. Turnage, 33, needled Thompson\u2019s extensive tenure in Congress, noting in a campaign ad that the incumbent had served in … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-68589","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68589","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=68589"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68589\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=68589"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=68589"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=68589"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}