Sen. Jim Inhofe, R-Okla., will retire in January 2023, triggering a special election under a new Oklahoma state law, according to a report from Fox News. Sen. Inhofe’s retirement is yet another congressional vacancy in a chorus of retirements that have been announced over the past year, sparking excitement in a hotly anticipated 2022 midterm season.
According to the Fox News report, Sen. Inhofe has served in the Oklahoma Senate since 1994 and will likely make an official announcement to the public on Friday. The special election to fill Inhofe’s vacant seat will be held in June, followed by the general election in November.
House Democrats and Republicans alike have retired in record numbers over the past year, leading many to speculate who will fill the power vacuum left behind.
For example, another report from Fox News revealed that to date, 30 House democrats have either announced retirement plans or their intentions to seek another office heading into a white-hot midterms season. Rep. Kathleen Rice, D-N.Y., is the most recent Democrat to announce that she will not be seeking reelection.
While many expect conservatives to ride a “red wave” of victory nationwide this midterm election season, some speculate that the congressional redistricting occurring across the United States may pose a problem for conservatives running for office.
President Donald Trump called congressional redistricting “phony” in early February, as previously reported by RSBN. He said in an official statement through his Save America PAC that “We were expecting to do well in New York and now, we’ll lose 4 seats and the Old Broken-Down Crow, Mitch McConnel, sits back and does nothing to help the party.”
However, Oklahoma is a firmly conservative state, and Sen. Inhofe captured the last election in 2020 with a hefty 63 percent of the vote. Despite trepidation surrounding redistricting throughout the country, it is likely that Sen. Inhofe’s vacant seat will stay Republican
