(SNews) – Rep. Chris Stewart (R-UT) will resign from Congress due to his wife’s illness, according to reports.
Stewart’s resignation will shrink the GOP’s already thin majority in the House until a replacement can be picked during a special election.
The congressman is a U.S. Air Force veteran and author.
He was first elected in 2012 and is currently serving his 6th term in Congress.
In 2022, he won reelection over Democrat Nick Mitchell by over 30 points.
His resignation will leave open a Republican seat on the House Appropriations and Intelligence Committees.
But more importantly, however, his departure will reduce the GOP’s thin majority to just three seats.
There are currently 222 Republicans and 213 Democrats in the House.
Republicans can only afford to lose four votes on a bill if all Democrats vote against it.
That is not easy to navigate for Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA).
Stewart’s departure will drop that number to three.
https://twitter.com/politico/status/1663617345426796544
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