Republican Rep. Don Bacon of Nebraska is retiring at the end of next year rather than seek re-election to a sixth term in Congress. (Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
"We're above average," noted David Wasserman, a senior editor and elections analyst at the non-partisan political handicapper "The Cook Report," as he pointed to the pace of House retirement announcements so far this cycle.
And we've still got six weeks left until the calendar hits 2026.
Waves of retirement announcements traditionally come in the final month or two, amid the holiday season, in the year before congressional elections.
The party breakdown so far on the retirements: 15 Democrats and 21 Republicans.
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A handful of the Democrats headed for the exits are in their 70s and 80s and retiring after long tenures in the House. The most prominent is 85-year-old former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
But in a continued sign that the bitter partisanship in the House has made the lower chamber in Congress far from a pleasant work environment, most of the members who are passing on re-election are much younger.
Rep. Jared Golden, D-Maine, attends a news conference in the Capitol Visitor Center in Washington, July 17, 2025. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
Pointing to Golden's comments, Bacon noted, "He said something I was feeling. The thought of winning was unattractive this cycle. If it feels like it’s a little bit depressing to win, then better let somebody else run."
"I think that’s where this hyper-partisan ugliness fits in. The thought of winning and going through another two years of this was not a fulfilling thought," he added.
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Former Democratic Rep. Annie Kuster of New Hampshire, who retired a year ago after serving a dozen years in the House, said the dysfunction and political tension in Congress was "definitely a factor" in her decision to leave.
"It had gotten so much more difficult over 12 years to work across the aisle," Kuster told Fox News Digital. "It had gotten much more fractured, partisan, less congenial."
Kuster said "a big factor for me was that most of the moderate Republicans that I worked with all the time had left Congress. The people who were coming in were more hard right partisans."
Former Democratic Rep. Annie Kuster of New Hampshire, seen filing for re-election, at the Statehouse in Concord, N.H., retired from Congress a year ago after serving a dozen years in the House. (Fox News - Paul Steinhauser)
Bacon, who describes himself as a Ronald Reagan-style, old-fashioned Republican, joked that he was "stuck in the middle" with "crazies on the right and crazies on the left."
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While some, like Bacon and Arrington, are taking a break from politics, most of those not seeking re-election to their House seats are running for statewide offices next year.
Wasserman said that "on the Republican side, there’s a sense that not much will get done beyond OBBBA in the next two years of Trump’s presidency."
OBBBA is the acronym for One Big Beautiful Bill Act, the massive GOP domestic policy bill passed along partisan lines this summer by the Republican-controlled House and Senate that is the centerpiece of President Donald Trump's second-term agenda.
"They’ve made the heavy lift and now there are opportunities to be more impactful elsewhere," Wasserman said.
The bitter battle between Republicans and Democrats over the measure was another sign of the vicious partisan climate on Capitol Hill.
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But Bacon remained optimistic about the future of Congress.
"When folks move on, new people move in, and I know there’s good people out there," he said.
Paul Steinhauser is a politics reporter based in the swing state of New Hampshire. He covers the campaign trail from coast to coast."
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/headed-exits-why-3-dozen-house-members-arent-running-re-election