I fear the flurry of retirements and departures by Republicans this midterm was either fear of the hush file being made public or a desire to hurt Trump or both. It’s really u usual for a majority party to put itself so deeply in the hole with scheduled vacancies. I don’t ever recall such a thing before.
The positions have become such mechanical clamoring for cash. The Trump shift was too much for some that had been hanging on the same teats for so long, IMHO. They wanted to have the ability to stay without rocking the boat or taking guff and that was not going to be possible.