Birds fly around the U.S. Capitol Dome at sunrise in September 2024 in Washington, D.C.
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NPR is tracking the record number of congressional lawmakers who have announced they do not plan to run for reelection to their current seats in 2026. That number currently stands at 10 senators and 27 House members.
Fifteen are retiring from public office with the rest running for a different office — 11 looking to become governor of their state, 10 looking to make the jump from House to Senate and one, Texas Republican Rep. Chip Roy, is looking to become his state’s attorney general.
There are more Republicans signaling their desire to exit Washington (27) than Democrats (10).
On the Democratic side, several of the party’s older lawmakers are passing on the torch to a new generation of elected officials, like Sens. Dick Durbin and Jeanne Shaheen and Reps. Jan Schakowsky, Dwight Evans and Danny Davis.
For Republicans, the four retirements so far include Sens. Mitch McConnell, Thom Tillis and Joni Ernst, plus Rep. Don Bacon, all of whom have clashed at times with President Trump’s vision of expanded executive power.
The GOP has slim majorities in both the House and Senate and has taken steps in several GOP-led states to enact mid-decade gerrymandering to try to add more favorable districts for the party ahead of what is historically a challenging election cycle for the party in power.
California’s Democratic state government is asking voters to approve a retaliatory redistricting measure in November’s off-year election.
Texas’ redrawn map that aims to shrink the number of Democratic representatives by five has already caused 78-year-old Texas Democratic Rep. Lloyd Doggett to announce his retirement instead of a bitter primary fight against progressive Rep. Greg Casar.