Dem
51
GOP
49
Rep. Jeff Duncan (R-SC), who served four terms in the South Carolina state House and seven terms in the U.S. House, has announced that he is retiring at the end of this term. He is 58 and his district is R+23, so he could easily be good for another 20-30 years in the House. He didn't even have an opponent in 2022 and regularly got at least 70% of the vote. It seems unusual for someone so young in such a deep red district to throw in the towel. In his statement, he said it has been a pleasure serving South Carolinians and blah blah blah.
What he didn't mention is that he has been married to Melody Hodges for 35 years. In Sept. 2023, she filed for divorce, claiming that he has had multiple extramarital affairs, including one with a lobbyist Hodges believes her soon-to-be-ex-husband is living with in D.C. Hodges has alleged that Duncan has told many members of his staff about this arrangement. Does the divorce relate to the retirement? We don't know. We do know that in bitter divorces, sometimes the wife is willing to give a congressman's primary or general-election opponents all kinds of dirt that could undo him. In deeply religious South Carolina, having Hodges make a TV commercial for a primary opponent telling what Duncan has been doing all these years might just be a problem, so he decided to bow out "gracefully." In any event, his retirement is not so he can spend more time with his wife and three (adult) children. (V)