(CNN) The retirements of two House Republicans on Wednesday is, on its face, not that big a deal.

Sure, Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner of Wisconsin leaving after 21(!) terms is an interesting story. But neither Sensenbrenner's seat nor that of fellow retiring Rep. Bill Flores (Texas) are in any danger of flipping to Democrats -- given the clear GOP lean of both.

But looks can be deceiving in life and in politics! The retirements of Sensenbrenner and Flores are not, in a vacuum, all that big a deal. But we don't live in a political vacuum. If you take a step back from the twin Republican retirements on Wednesday, you see that Republicans now have 14 House members heading for the exits after next November as compared to just four for Democrats. (California Rep. Susan Davis announced she wouldn't run again on Wednesday too!)

And it's not just the raw number disparity between the sides that tells the story. Of the 14 Republicans leaving the House in 2020, only two are abandoning their House seats to run for statewide office -- either governor or senator. The rest are just, well, leaving. By comparison, at this point in the 2018 cycle, 14 House Republicans had announced they were leaving, but nine of the 14 were seeking other, higher offices.

It doesn't take a political scientist to look at the GOP retirements (without other offices to run for) and conclude that being in the House minority with President Donald Trump in the White House just isn't a lot of fun.

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