# Tom Marino, Republican Congressman from PA, to retire
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tom-marino-republican-congressman-from-pa-to-retire/827962
**Category:** Politics & Elections
**Created:** [January 18, 2019, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tom-marino-republican-congressman-from-pa-to-retire/827962 "2019-01-18T02:50:18Z")
**Posts on this page:** 7
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Railer13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Railer13)
#### Post date: [January 18, 2019, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tom-marino-republican-congressman-from-pa-to-retire/827962/1 "2019-01-18T02:50:18Z")
[Trump’s former drug czar nominee to retire from Congress this month](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trumps-former-drug-czar-nominee-to-retire-from-congress-this-month/)
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> Rep. Tom Marino, R-Pennsylvania, announced he would step down from Congress at the end of January, ensuring a special election in the swing state in coming months.
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> Marino made national news in 2017 when he was nominated by President Trump to direct the country’s drug control policy. He withdrew from consideration after a Washington Post/“60 Minutes” report found he helped steer legislation which weakened the Drug Enforcement Administration’s power to go after drug distributors.
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> Marino said Thursday he will be stepping down effective Jan. 23 to join the private sector. Gov. Tom Wolf, a Democrat, has ten days to call a special election after Marino retires. The election must be held within 60 days of Marino’s departure.
According to [Ballotpedia](https://ballotpedia.org/Tom_Marino#2018), ne won election handily in November, 66% to 34%. It would seem to be a solid Red seat, but who knows?
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### Author:  [@Euphonious\_Polemic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euphonious_Polemic)
#### Post date: [January 18, 2019, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tom-marino-republican-congressman-from-pa-to-retire/827962/2 "2019-01-18T03:37:08Z")
Let me hazard a guess… He’s going to join the private sector… with a pharmaceutical related company?
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### Author:  [@Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulf_the_Unwashed)
#### Post date: [January 18, 2019, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tom-marino-republican-congressman-from-pa-to-retire/827962/3 "2019-01-18T04:01:04Z")
It’s a very rural, very conservative district in north central PA, one of the most Republican-leaning in the Northeast. It does include State College, but is drawn so as to avoid Scranton, Wilkes-Barre, and Harrisburg.
These things always depend on who actually runs–hi, Roy Moore!–but the Democrats’ chances of winning the seat seem fairly remote.
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### Author:  [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)
#### Post date: [January 18, 2019, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tom-marino-republican-congressman-from-pa-to-retire/827962/4 "2019-01-18T18:34:27Z")
He’s retiring after only four weeks into his new term? What was the point of the re-election campaign? Why didn’t he do this nine months ago and save everyone (including himself) a lot of time, effort, and money? Am I overly cynical and suspicious to think he’s hiding the real reason for his sudden departure?
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### Author:  [@Airbeck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Airbeck)
#### Post date: [January 18, 2019, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tom-marino-republican-congressman-from-pa-to-retire/827962/5 "2019-01-18T18:41:30Z")
It’s probably that he doesn’t like being in the minority and he was hoping the GOP would retain the House.
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### Author:  [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)
#### Post date: [January 18, 2019, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tom-marino-republican-congressman-from-pa-to-retire/827962/6 "2019-01-18T18:42:06Z")
> [@NDP](#):
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> Am I overly cynical and suspicious to think he’s hiding the real reason for his sudden departure?
It would be silly not to. The question is who has what on him, and is he going to jail for it.
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### Author:  [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)
#### Post date: [January 18, 2019, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tom-marino-republican-congressman-from-pa-to-retire/827962/7 "2019-01-18T18:46:05Z")
Another rat abandoning Trump’s sinking ship.