Tumultuous year has led some in House GOP to call it quits
Five of 21 retiring Republicans will have resigned before end of terms
House Majority Leader Steve Scalise thought he had a good argument for Rep. Mike Gallagher, R-Wis.
The Wisconsin Republican had announced he was going to leave Congress, one of 21 Republicans who have said they are headed for the exits this year. But three Republicans who had previously announced their intention to leave had reconsidered and were now going to stay. Scalise, R-La., wanted to emphasize that momentum to Gallagher, hoping the young rising star might reconsider.
“I said, ‘You know, it’s not too late for you.’ We joked about that,” Scalise recalled in an interview. “I’m not going to give up working on him.”
The sell hasn’t worked yet. Gallagher, 40, is set to retire earlier than previously expected, leaving the House in two weeks with just a one-vote majority.
The tumultuous year in a slim-majority hasn’t necessarily pushed departing Republicans to seek higher office or pursue other opportunities away from Capitol Hill. But it reaffirmed to most that they made the right call to leave, acknowledging the House has become more partisan, and thus, it’s more difficult to pass impactful legislation than when many were first elected.
The decision to step back is yet another sign of the broader drop in morale within the GOP conference. Many Republican lawmakers have largely accepted that their inability to govern is a predicament of their own making. They acknowledge overcoming their legislative impasse relies on not just keeping control of the House in November, but growing their ranks significantly to neutralize the handful of hard-liners who wield influence by taking advantage of the narrow margins. But many also continue to say privately what few have acknowledged publicly: Republicans believe they are likely to lose the majority.
And members are also worried some lawmakers who have already decided to leave will consider resigning early, threatening Republicans’ current majority. Former congressman Ken Buck, R-Colo., who resigned after condemning how unserious his party has become, has hinted that several additional colleagues are mulling leaving before the new year.
“This is a dysfunctional place, and I’m not making an observation that others haven’t made,” Buck said.
Forty-three lawmakers, almost evenly split between both parties, won’t return to the House next year. While the number of retirements is on par with previous years, examining exactly who and how quickly Republicans are retiring tells a more complex story.
Five of 21 retiring Republicans will have resigned before the end of the term. Four GOP committee chairpersons are leaving, but Republicans were particularly shocked at the announced departures of Reps. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., and Gallagher, who are not term-limited from continuing to oversee their committees. Eight lawmakers are retiring from the coveted Energy and Commerce Committee and eight subcommittee chairpersons are leaving. Four former members of a different GOP leadership era also have called it quits: former speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., his trusted deputy Rep. Patrick T. McHenry, R-N.C., former deputy whip Drew Ferguson, R-Ga., and McMorris Rodgers, who previously served as conference chairwoman.
Following the historic ouster of McCarthy last year and the subsequent difficulty governing, several lawmakers and aides familiar with their boss’s decision — who like others spoke on the condition anonymity to freely discuss personal plans — seriously considered retiring. But what kept most of these more-pragmatic Republicans from pulling the trigger was the possibility their absence could open up the seat to a candidate more willing to stonewall than govern.
In an interview with conservative commentator Charlie Kirk last week, Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., acknowledged the “big challenge right now is keeping the team together” and that early resignations don’t help Republicans in their mission “to save the country.”
“Without a Republican majority, we have no hope in doing that,” Johnson said. “We’ve got to be ready to govern, and we’re going to turn this mess around 180 degrees, but we’ve got to get through this difficult valley to get to that other side.”
The deep animosity and personal disdain between members following McCarthy’s ouster played a role in Rep. Debbie Lesko’s, R-Ariz., decision to leave. Lesko announced her retirement in the middle of the three-week fight to elect Johnson, citing a desire to spend more time with family. But she added in her statement what many Republicans have echoed: “Right now, Washington, D.C., is broken; it is hard to get anything done.”
Rep. Greg Pence, R-Ind., pointed to the “chaotic schedules” getting in the way of working in his district bordering Indianapolis. Like many retirees, Pence announced in January he wouldn’t seek reelection after spending the holidays weighing the decision with family members, who became the main incentive for him to leave. How his colleagues had behaved in the months prior “didn’t incentivize” him to stay, he said.
Rep. Kelly Armstrong, R-N.D., who was elected in 2018 and has decided to run for governor, stressed that he’s never known “what normal is in Congress” after experiencing two impeachments against President Donald Trump, the coronavirus pandemic and the Jan. 6 riot. Gallagher, who was elected two years before Armstrong, echoed the sentiment, saying while “Congress is getting increasingly chaotic,” it has “been pretty steadily chaotic during my eight years.”