A congressional exodus far outpacing recent cycles has taken grip of Capitol Hill, with Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s (R-GA) surprise resignation last week marking the latest in a string of lawmakers’ exits.
Ten senators and 39 House members have announced they will not seek reelection, with less than a year to go before the 2026 midterm elections. This number underscores the scale of turnover unfolding in Congress, as several members are retiring or seeking higher office.
That group includes 17 Democrats and 22 Republicans, with a striking share aiming for higher office instead of returning to the House. Seven Democrats are running for Senate or governor, while 14 Republicans are pursuing statewide posts ranging from governor to Senate to Texas attorney general. The rest are stepping aside entirely, adding to one of the largest early-exit cycles in recent history.
The Senate is also experiencing notable turnover ahead of 2026, with three Republicans, Sens. Mitch McConnell (R-KY), Joni Ernst (R-IA), and Thom Tillis (R-NC), opting not to seek reelection. On the Democratic side, Sens. Dick Durbin (D-IL), Gary Peters (D-MI), Tina Smith (D-MN), and Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) are preparing to step aside. Adding to the reshuffle, Sens. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), Tommy Tuberville (R-AL), and Michael Bennet (D-CO) have launched gubernatorial campaigns in their home states, further expanding the number of open seats heading into the midterm elections.
House retirement announcements in 2025 are far outpacing recent cycles. According to data from Ballotpedia, the numbers in past years generally ranged from the mid-teens to the low 30s: 14, 30, 18, 30, four, 33, and 18, dating back to 2018. However, this year already has 39, well above those levels. That makes 2025 one of the most active years for House departures in more than a decade, signaling elevated turnover heading into the 2026 midterm elections.
The Senate is also experiencing an unusual surge. At this time in the last four election cycles, there were seven retirement announcements in 2024, six in 2022, four in 2020, and two in 2018. With 10 senators already saying they won’t seek another term in 2026, the chamber is on track for one of its biggest waves of departures in recent memory.
The unusually high number of lawmakers, particularly Republicans, walking away from safe House seats to pursue other offices stands out, and it comes as Greene warned in her resignation letter that Trump and House GOP leaders are drifting from the president’s agenda. Her core argument is that Republicans have grown complacent and are in danger of squandering their razor-thin majority.
Republicans in the House are navigating a majority so narrow that it could realistically slip away before the end of the Congress. Even if the GOP hangs on in the Tennessee special election on Tuesday, Democrats are on track to add two seats, one in Houston to replace the late Rep. Sylvester Turner (D-TX) and another in New Jersey following Gov.-elect Mikie Sherrill’s (D-NJ) departure, tightening the numbers further. If Democrats were to pull off an upset in Tennessee or if Republicans lose even one more member to retirement, illness, or another unexpected vacancy, Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) could face the real possibility of falling into the minority during 2026.
Congress is heading into a volatile stretch: major healthcare subsidies are set to lapse, government funding will run out at the end of January, and House Republicans are already bracing for the Senate to dictate the terms. Inside the House, frustration is boiling over — members are circumventing leadership with discharge petitions on everything from healthcare to Russia sanctions, even as redistricting battles and internal divisions weaken the GOP’s grip.
Greene’s letter appears to have struck a nerve inside the House GOP, with Punchbowl News reporting that several Republicans are now privately weighing early exits of their own. One senior Republican told the outlet that morale “has never been lower” and warned more midterm resignations could be coming.
That dynamic is exactly what GOP strategist Dennis Lennox says is driving the current exodus. “Congress has effectively become a parliament, but our system doesn’t allow it to function like one. We don’t have the party discipline, cohesion, or institutional mechanisms that make parliamentary governments work, particularly the passage of bills, even in a unified one-party government.”
Lennox argues that Johnson “may hold the title of speaker of the House, but he’s powerless,” presiding over a conference that sees him more as an extension of the president than a defender of its interests. Republican rank-and-file members, Lennox added, feel “disrespected and unprotected.”
MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE ANNOUNCES SHOCK RESIGNATION FROM CONGRESS AFTER PUBLIC DIVORCE WITH TRUMP
Lennox said the mounting frustration explains why so many Republicans are eyeing the exits. With internal chaos rising and little confidence that the House can function in the coming year, he argued members see limited upside in sticking around for what is shaping up to be an unpredictable and bruising stretch.
The result is a Congress bracing for a volatile election year. With control of both chambers on the line and little margin for error, even small shifts in membership could redefine the political landscape long before voters head to the polls in 2026.
