Lame Duck Members in the Lame Duck Session
December 20, 2012
There are 78 members of Congress who qualify as lame ducks. These are members who were not reelected to the 113th Congress and are no longer accountable to any electorate. Some of these (13) ran for another office and were elected or defeated. Another group was defeated in the primary (13) or were defeated in the general election (27). A summary of the lame ducks by reason and party is shown below.
| Reason for Leaving | D | R | Total |
| Elected to Other Office | 5 | 2 | 7 |
| Defeated for Other Office | 1 | 5 | 6 |
| Defeated in Primary | 7 | 6 | 13 |
| Defeated in General Election | 8 | 19 | 27 |
| Retired | 14 | 11 | 25 |
| Total | 35 | 43 | 78 |
The chart below shows that most lame duck members have not spoken in the lame duck House session or have spoken just one time. More Republicans than Democrats have spoken just one time. There are three members who have spoken a lot. Rep. Kucinich (D-OH) has spoken eleven times. Rep. Dold (R-IL) and Rep. Altmire (D-PA) have spoken eight times each.
So, most lame duckers are remaining silent or like Rep. Ben Quayle speaking once in a farewell address.
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