CNN
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California Rep. Grace Napolitano announced Saturday that she will retire from Congress at the end of her current term.
“I am incredibly grateful to the people of the San Gabriel Valley and the people of Southeast Los Angeles County for the trust they have placed in me to represent them for a quarter of a century,” the Democrat said in a communicated
A native of Texas, Napolitano is currently serving her 13th term in the House, representing a majority Latino district in the Los Angeles area. She was first elected to the House in 1998 after six years in the California State Assembly and a stint as mayor of Norwalk, California, where she also served on the city council.
At 86, Napolitano is the oldest member of the Chamber. New Jersey Democrat Bill Pascrell is also 86, but a month younger than Napolitano.
Although control of the House will be up for grabs in 2024, Napolitano’s 31st Congressional District likely won’t be competitive for Republicans. He won re-election in 2022 with 59.5% of the vote in a redrawn district that Joe Biden would have carried by 31 points in 2020.
Napolitano has made mental health care a priority during her tenure in Washington and is co-chair of the Congressional Mental Health Caucus.
“When I came to the federal government, mental health issues were not talked about, families kept them a secret and internal turmoil boiled over in our children, parents and adults. I am very happy to say that we have reduced the stigma of mental health, locally and nationally. We’ve made it acceptable for people to talk about their mental health and get treatment,” he said on Saturday.
Napolitano is a senior member of the House Natural Resources Committee and the House Transportation and Infrastructure panel. She is also a member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus and previously served as chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus.
“When I came to Congress in 1999, there were 18 members of the Hispanic caucus, and now there are 42,” he said.
Napolitano is the ninth Democrat and member of the 12th House to date to announce they will not seek re-election in 2024. And she is not the only California Democrat to leave the chamber at the end of the term. Three of her colleagues, Reps. Adam Schiff, Katie Porter and Barbara Lee, are vacating their districts to seek the open Senate seat being vacated by retiring Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein.
