Massa Has Cancer, Won’t Run for Re-Election

By Josh Kurtz and Emily Cadei

Posted March 3, 2010 at 1:08pm

Freshman Rep. Eric Massa (D-N.Y.) is expected to announce on a 3:30 p.m. conference call that he will not run for a second term in November.

A source who has spoken to Massa said the Congressman will announce he is leaving because of a recurrence of cancer. Massa’s retirement was first reported by the New York Daily News on Wednesday afternoon.

Massa was first elected in 2008, when he defeated then-Rep. Randy Kuhl in the Republican-leaning 29th district.

Republicans had been targeting Massa for defeat in November, and the race to succeed him will likely be competitive.

He will become the 15th Democrat to announce plans to leave the House at the end of this year.

A Massachusetts primary tests Democrats’ appetite to ‘change the culture’

A worker stocks Angus beef top sirloin filets in the meat section of a grocery store in Washington, D.C., on Oct. 25, 2025.

Trump creates beef with ranchers over new import plan

Construction continues on a new helipad on the South Lawn of the White House and the East Wing ballroom on August 20, 2026.

White House ballroom construction can proceed, SCOTUS says

A child is vaccinated during an immunization event at the L.A. Care and Blue Shield of California Promise Health Plan Community Resource Center in Los Angeles on Oct. 24, 2025.

HHS seeks input on kids vaccination changes called for by Trump

President Donald Trump looks on before signing a piece of stone at the construction site of a helipad on the South Lawn of the White House on Wednesday. (Jim Watson/AFP via Getty Images)

Trump tries to shrug off opponents’ rush to define him as lame duck