The House Republican Conference has seen an unusual flurry of high-profile retirement announcements that has some political observers wondering whether this trend is a silent admission that the GOP will lose its majority this year. 

So far, 15 House Republicans have announced their retirements, doing so without plans to seek higher office.

"We've seen moments where there are more heavy exits from Congress, and that it is like a canary in the coal mine," Grant Reeher, professor of political science and director of the Campbell Public Affairs Institute, tells Newsweek. "If I'm the speaker, I'm definitely worried."

Reeher was also quoted in the Washington Examiner article, "Trump flexes power on his march to the GOP nomination."

"This is kind of typical for Trump’s effort and influencing the party because it does seem to be more about him as a candidate or as a president than as a point of view or a set of policies or any ideology," Reeher says. "It’s an aggressive version of normal party politics surrounding presidential candidates and the influence that they have on a party…which marks it with Trump’s signature."