Report: Saxton To Announce Retirement

Rep. Jim Saxton (R-N.J.) is expected to announce his retirement from the House today after serving 12 terms in the House, according to the Washington Post’s Chris Cillizza, opening up another highly winnable seat for House Democrats.

Saxton’s press secretary could not be reached immediately for comment.

Saxton would be the fifteenth Republican to announce his retirement and, like many other retiring Republicans, his South Jersey district is in highly competitive territory. It’s a classic “9/11 district” as it gave a narrow victory to President Bush in 2004 (51 percent) after overwhelmingly voting for Al Gore in 2000.

Democrats already have a highly-touted candidate in state Senator Jim Adler, who ran unsuccessfully against Saxton in 1990 and formed an exploratory committee for the U.S. Senate seat in 2002.