Axios calls Congress “The worst good-paying job in America.” The Atlantic headlines, “House Republicans Aren’t Having Any Fun.” And USA Today reports: “Why quitting is all the rage in DC.”
Departures from Congress are running at a record pace. Already 46 House members — 26 Republicans and 20 Democrats — have announced they’re not running again, and more retirements are expected.
There are many underlying reasons for this trend, but for Republicans, one powerful political reality is accelerating their exodus: In 20 of the last 22 midterm elections, the president’s party has lost ground. Since Republicans hold a slight three-seat majority in the House, they are likely to lose control in the next Congress, and serving in the minority is a lot less rewarding that running the place.
The discontent and disillusionment pervading Capitol Hill has been building for a long time, however. Rep. Michael McCaul, a senior Republican from Texas, explained his decision to leave on CNN: “The level of partisanship, rancor, vitriolic debate, demonizing the other side of the aisle, not willing to work across the aisle to get good things done for the American people, and just the overall toxic environment.”
Similar feelings were expressed by Ken Buck, a Colorado Republican who quit Congress in 2024: “I think this place is dysfunctional,” he said. “Instead of having decorum, instead of operating in a professional manner, this place has just devolved into this bickering and nonsense and not really doing the job for the American people.”
“It’s historic to be there,” another lawmaker told CNN. “But boy, they suck a lot of the life out of you sometimes. For some people, it’s like, what am I doing this for?”
This dismay has been badly aggravated by a new breed of member that former GOP speaker John Boehner dubbed “legislative terrorists.” They are performers, not legislators, who thrive on combat, not compromise, and are adept at exploiting social media to elevate their profile.
Another former speaker, Paul Ryan, argues: “You have a few nihilists who are not interested in seeing their team succeed, but building a brand for themselves. … It makes the place ungovernable.”
Don Bacon of Nebraska, a self-described old-fashioned Ronald Reagan Republican, said he’s retiring because he feels “stuck in the middle” with “crazies on the right and crazies on the left.”
This growing polarization means that deliberation and negotiation, the core of the legislative process, has virtually disappeared. Individual lawmakers are faced with bills crafted by their leaders and told to approve or reject them. Unity is demanded. Dissent is denounced.
“One of the reasons people are leaving is that it’s demoralizing to be a rubber stamp,” Republican Thomas Massie of Kentucky told USA Today. “We’re losing people who actually want to govern,” added former Rep. Tom Reed of New York, a centrist who retired in 2022. “This town no longer values bipartisanship — it sees it as betrayal.”
Trump did not start this banishment of bipartisanship, but he has clearly embraced it. His One Big Beautiful Bill passed the House last May with not a single Democrat vote, while all but two Republicans supported it.
In fact, Trump has not just discarded Democrats, but fellow Republicans as well. Many of his executive actions — closing departments, firing workers, withholding funds — have usurped powers traditionally exercised by Congress.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Georgia Republican who is quitting Congress next month, told The New York Times that Speaker Mike Johnson “is not our leader. … He is literally 100% under direct orders from the White House. And many, many Republicans are so furious about that, but they’re cowards.”
“There is a lot of frustration among our members with the effectiveness, or lack thereof, of the House,” Rep. Kevin Kiley of California told USA Today. “If you’re someone who ran for Congress to accomplish X, Y or Z, and it’s becoming more difficult to do those things, does that impact people’s decisions to stay? I’m sure it will.”
Extreme polarization and the toxic environment have ignited serious concerns about safety, which only grew after the murder of conservative activist Charlie Kirk. Inspired by Trump, partisans see their rivals not just as wrong but as evil, and Greene cited threats to her family as one reason for leaving Congress. Rep. Tom Burchett of Tennessee told Axios that safety concerns were contributing to the exodus and admitted, “It takes a toll on people.”
Congress has been deteriorating into dysfunction for years now. And the members who are fleeing in force prove that the decline is steadily getting worse.
Steven Roberts teaches politics and journalism at George Washington University. He can be contacted by email at stevecokie@gmail.com.
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