Why More Lawmakers Are Quitting Congress, and What It Means for the Midterms

The Washington Post

12:18 JST, February 24, 2026

Like no time in recent memory, lawmakers are setting their sights anywhere but Capitol Hill – setting the stage for crucial midterm elections that will feature fewer incumbents than usual and ensure more fresh faces in Congress next year.

As of late February, 68 Senate and House members have said they will not seek reelection.

An unprecedented 31 of those lawmakers have filed to run for another office. In some cases, members exiting the House are hoping to enter the Senate. In others, lawmakers are seeking to return home as governor.

While looming midterms often prompt a swell of retirements, the number of announced departures at this point in the election cycle is notably higher than in other recent cycles, according to a Washington Post analysis.

“It looks like we’re heading toward a record number,” said Sarah Binder, a political science professor at George Washington University and a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution.

Some who are leaving Capitol Hill are frustrated with how little is getting done. In recent terms, Congress has passed the fewest number of bills that have become law since the early 1900s. Lawmakers largely attribute the inability to legislate to bitterly partisan politics, intraparty feuds and narrow majorities that make it difficult for leaders to compromise without backlash from influential corners of their caucuses.

Feeling stuck can also factor into decisions to depart.

Rep. Don Bacon (R-Nebraska) said in June he would not run for a sixth term, shocking Republican colleagues because holding on to his district helps keep the GOP majority.

“It’s very hard to move up the ladder in the House unless you’re in a very safe district,” said Bacon, who represents a swing district that leans Democratic in eastern Nebraska. “I feel like I sort of peaked at what I could do.”

“I think it’s a little bit glorified here, overly glorified in reality,” Bacon added. “I mean, I’ve got the fire to succeed, but 10 years of this was enough.”

Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minnesota) recently became the latest lawmaker – and the fourth in the Senate – to announce a run for governor. Her decision was based in part on the recognition that after serving almost 20 years in the Senate, she was unlikely to move up in Democratic leadership and could instead shape party politics as governor, according to three people familiar with her thinking, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss private deliberations.

The Senate has changed dramatically, said Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Illinois), who is retiring after nearly 30 years in the upper chamber.

“Members who used to be active legislators are now active observers,” Durbin said. “I think that discourages many people.”

Eight senators are retiring from public office after this term. Sens. Tommy Tuberville (R-Alabama), Marsha Blackburn (R-Tennessee), Michael Bennet (D-Colorado) and Klobuchar are all running to be their state’s governors.

“We’re quitters!” joked Tuberville, referring to his cadre of departing colleagues. He is leaving after a single term in Washington, an unusual trend in the Senate given most stay for multiple terms. Tuberville thought he’d serve at least two terms, he said, but the Alabama governorship opened up – and with it, the chance to flex a muscle that feels more familiar.

“I’m more of a CEO type,” said Tuberville, a former college football coach. “Go hire your own team, your Cabinet members. Have a game plan.”

Tuberville has been picking the brains of his colleagues who maneuvered in the opposite direction – serving as governor before coming to the Senate – and he’s chatted with Bennet, he said, another senator who is running for governor.

The number of planned departures in the House has increased more compared with recent cycles than those in the Senate.

Fifty-four House members have said they are leaving compared with roughly 40 in the previous three Congresses at this point in the cycle. Of the 54, 27 are running for another office, the largest group to do so since 2020. In recent cycles, roughly a dozen House members set their sights on higher pursuits.

Republicans are retiring or running for another office in larger numbers than Democrats, a trend often seen in midterm election years when the majority party also holds the White House. Historically, midterm voters rebuke the president’s party in Congress, often leading to changes in control of the chambers.

Twenty-nine House Republicans are not seeking reelection, but only 10 are retiring from public office. Ten are running for governor, while eight are hoping to move to the Senate.

House Republicans have been plagued by internal battles over the past four years that they have been in the majority, including the historic ousting of Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-California) in 2023.

Several Republicans surveyed said that the fights and legislative stagnation are not why they are retiring. In other cases, those unsavory parts of the job are a factor.

“I was so mad when eight people out of 223 take down Kevin McCarthy, who most of us liked,” Bacon said. “That was a tough one, that takes a little toll.”

Tensions with Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) and President Donald Trump drove Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Georgia) to resign earlier this year, further threatening the slim Republican majority in the House. Rep. Mark Green (R-Tennessee), who was chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, also resigned in June for a private-sector job.

So far, this year’s crop of departing House Republicans include some in safe red districts, Binder pointed out. That shows the prospect of serving in the minority next year is probably motivating Republicans to consider other opportunities or retirement, more than individual fears about being ousted from their seats, she said.

In fact, most of those leaving Capitol Hill are leaving behind solidly Republican or Democratic districts. Three vulnerable lawmakers – Bacon, David Schweikert (R-Arizona) and Jared Golden (D-Maine) – are not seeking reelection, putting their swing districts up for grabs for the opposing party to try to flip.

Age, electoral vulnerability and career opportunity are all common factors that can drive a member’s decision to leave, Binder said.

Some Republicans have said they are retiring because they feel they could achieve nothing greater in their years of service than helping pass Trump’s massive tax and border security agenda, known as the One Big Beautiful Bill, last year.

Twenty-two House Democrats have announced their retirements, with seven running for Senate and one running for governor.

There are fewer departing Democrats than Republicans who are not seeking any other public office. But more Democrats than Republicans are choosing to leave after factoring their age and decades in service.

Thirteen Democrats are voluntarily ending their political careers, five of whom have been serving in the House since the 1990s. The average age of retiring Democrats is 75, compared with 62 for Republicans.

The Democratic Party has been grappling with generational change. In 2024, congressional Democrats persuaded President Joe Biden, then 81, to step aside rather than seek reelection, and many have since pointed to the moment as one that has led them to reflect on their own careers.

One of those Democrats was former speaker Nancy Pelosi (California), who, after 20 years, stepped down as the top Democratic leader in 2022 and said she would end her political career after this term. Her leadership lieutenant, Rep. Steny H. Hoyer (D-Maryland), joked in an interview with The Post last month that his coming retirement “at this young age” of 86 is “probably premature.”

In an interview with the New York Times last year, Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-New York), who also is retiring, said: “Watching the Biden thing really said something about the necessity for generational change in the party, and I think I want to respect that.”

Republicans who are not running for another office also noted that age was a factor to consider.

Rep. Dan Newhouse (R-Washington), 70, said his decision was based on “looking ahead at what age” he’d be at the end of his next term rather than the prospects of facing a tough reelection campaign. He is also one of the two last House Republicans remaining who voted to impeach Trump for his role in the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol insurrection, and faced a formidable GOP challenger last cycle.

Rep. Mark Amodei (Nevada), who chairs the Homeland Security appropriations subcommittee, recently became the latest high-ranking Republican to say he is leaving Congress. His announcement in early February came months after he secured Trump’s endorsement for reelection, but the decision to retire was based on recognizing that he isn’t getting any younger.

“I’ve swung the bat hard for a very long time,” said Amodei, who has been in the House for 15 years. “I’d rather go out hopefully leaving people wanting some more – than going, ‘When in the heck is he going to leave?’”