JULIA MUELLER

GOP lawmakers are fleeing for the exit in droves, with many pointing to a Congress they argue has grown too dysfunctional and a demanding schedule that leaves little time for their families.

More than 50 lawmakers in both parties have announced decisions to leave their seats, scrambling the calculus on both sides of the aisle ahead of next year’s high-stakes midterms.

The wave of exits could be particularly ominous for Republicans in charge of the House and Senate. The number exiting is nearly on par with 2018, a dismal midterm year for the GOP.

Some lawmakers frustrated with inaction on Capitol Hill plan to run for governor and other statewide offices, while others are stepping back from public office altogether.

Those leaving include high-profile conservative and progressive firebrands such as Reps. Chip Roy (R-Texas) and Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.), and battle-tested moderates such as Reps. Don Bacon (R-Neb.) and Jared Golden (D-Maine), who have repeatedly run for reelection and won in competitive districts.

Bacon told The Hill that a major reason he’s leaving is because he wants to “do something different,” including spending more time with his grandchildren and having a healthier lifestyle.

But while he said those were the major reasons, Congress’s problems also played a role.

“I just was ready for something new. I know my wife was. So, that’s the major reason. I think the more minor reasons are … I’ll say that the dysfunction isn’t attractive,” Bacon said.

I think, two, it’s hard — you got to be a really master tactician to run against the left and at the same time disagree with the president on a lot of things. And I’ve done it. I’ve done it since 2020, and I don’t know, to me, I’m just, I just knew it was time for a change,” he said.

Golden wrote in an op-ed for the Bangor Daily News that he’s grown “tired of the increasing incivility and plain nastiness that are now common from some elements of our American community—behavior that, too often, our political leaders exhibit themselves.”

Another high-profile House member leaving in January is Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), who was once a top ally of Trump’s.

“No matter which way the political pendulum swings, Republican or Democrat, nothing ever gets better for the common American man or woman,” she said in a statement announcing her decision.

Rep. Ralph Norman (R-S.C.), who’s pursuing a gubernatorial bid in South Carolina, told The Hill he feels he can get more done on a statewide level than in Congress.

“I can accomplish far more on a national level being governor,” Norman said. “You know, you got what, 50 governors? You got 435 members of Congress, 100 Senators, 535. So my voice will be heard far greater as a CEO of South Carolina.”

Democrats argue a big problem with the House is the unwillingness of most Republicans to take on Trump.

“So long as the biggest fear of many Republicans is the danger of a mean Trump tweet, the House will remain broken,” Rep. Lloyd Doggett (D-Texas), who is retiring in light of GOP-friendly redistricting in Texas, told The Hill via email. 

Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-N.J.) told The Hill she’s retiring because she thinks she’s contributed as much as she could during her time in Congress. 

“I had tried to advance the issues that were of concern to me. … And I just thought that it’s now someone else’s turn to take up that mantle and hopefully carry out some of the values that I thought were important in terms of our domestic policy and our international policy,” she said.

But she added that, “I don’t disagree that Congress right now is at its weakest point, that it is becoming a tool of the administration and not in a good way at all.”

Some lawmakers feel they “hit a kind of wall” on Capitol Hill, said Michael Romano, a Shenandoah University political science professor who has studied congressional retirements.