me welcome congresswoman cheri bustos, democrat from illinois, congresswoman kathleen rice, democratrom new york, and former congresswoman ileana ros-lehtinen, a republican who represented south florida and was the first latina to serve in congress. she retired in 2017 but we ask her to join because there are no house republican women who are retiring by 22 -- by 2022, or retiring by choice, i should say. thank you for joining us. we are thrilled to have you. for those of you tuning in over the livestream, you can chime in on twitter using #rulewithus. i would like to get a better sense from each of you as to why you decided not to run for reelection. it is not because you have not won tough races before. congresswoman bustos, you won this rural district in back-to-back years in which donald trump also won your district. can you walk us briefly through your thinking? rep. bustos: thank you for having us. it is especially exciting to be with kathleen rice and ileana ros-lehtinen. love them both. we all played on the congressional women's softball team together, a great uniter. elena:

guest: >> retiring representatives cheri bustos and kathleen rice, along with former representatives ileana ros-lehtinen, talk about life after leaving office and the challenges there parties face. this event is hosted by politico. elena: 35 democratic lawmakers choosing not to run for reelection. this is not unusual for a party facing a tough midterm cycle, but beyond the tough political environment, which our members have had to deal with -- they have won in the past -- i wanted to find out, what's the reasoning behind their decision to not run? what does it mean for washington's deepening gridlock that these women are not going to be in congress anymore? joining me, let me welcome congresswoman cheri bustos, democrat from illinois, congresswoman kathleen rice, democrat from new york, and former congresswoman ileana ros-lehtinen, a republican who represented south florida and was the first latina to serve in congress. she retired in 2017 but we ask her to join because there are no house republican women who are retiring by 22 -- by 2022, or retiring by choice, i should say. thank y

. >> returning representatives cheri bustos and kathleen rice along with former representative ileanaehtinen talk about life after leaving office and the challenges there party space. this event is hosted by politico. just waiting for this discussion hosted by politico to get started, talking about life after congress. we will be hearing from two representatives who are retiring from office, cheri bustos and kathleen rice, and hear from former representatives ileana ros-lehtinen. they will also talk about the challenges their parties are facing. the discussion is expected to begin shortly. >> wendy weiser of the bretton sutter center for justice. she serves as the vice president for democracy at the center. thank you for giving us your time. can you talk about not only the center itself but the programs you are involved with, especially as it deals with voting rights? for profit think take that focuses on issues of democracy and dusters. and for many years, for several decades now, we have been studying voting laws, changing to the voting system, and working to improve election admini

. ♪ >> retiring representative cheri bustos and cathleen rice along with former represented iliana russellon were talking about leaving congress. they talked about the women that inspired their careers and government and the challenges facing their 40's.