Republicans are fleeing the House of Representatives in record numbers.
On Friday, Rep. Darell Issa (R-Calif.) became the 35th member of the GOP to announce they will not seek reelection to Congress this November. That’s the most Republican retirements since at least 1930, and it surpasses the last high-water mark, midway into Donald Trump’s first term in 2018, when 34 GOP members opted out of defending their seats. That fall, Democrats won a 41-seat majority.
The 35 Republican retirements do not include Issa’s colleague, Rep. Kevin Kiley (R-Calif.), who announced the same day that he will run for reelection — but not as a Republican. Kiley will instead appear as a candidate with “No Party Affiliation” on the ballot, though he told reporters that, if reelected, he plans to continue caucusing with the GOP.
“It is no secret I’ve been frustrated, at times disgusted, by the hyper-partisanship in Congress,” Kiley wrote on X. “In the last year it’s led to the longest government shutdown in U.S. history, a massive increase in healthcare costs, and of course, a pointless redistricting war.”
Rep. Burgess Owens (R-Utah) also announced last week he will not run for a new term amid an ongoing redistricting battle in his home state. Both Issa and Owens are casualties of an arms race that started last summer, when Trump pressured Texas officials to redraw their congressional maps to add five new Republican-leaning seats. California voters responded by approving a plan that could add six Democratic seats. A federal court last month rejected a GOP effort to block a court-ordered congressional map in Utah, but the party continues to challenge the initiative by other means.
Embattled Rep. Tony Gonzales (R-Texas) also abandoned his hopes for reelection last week after the House Ethics Committee announced it would be investigating allegations that Gonzales sexually harassed a former staffer who later died by self-immolation. (Gonzales has admitted to a relationship with the aide, Regina Santos-Aviles.)
At least 19 of the 35 retiring Republicans are leaving Congress to seek other public office, although some of those bids — including Rep. Elise Stefanik’s (R-N.Y.) candidacy for governor and Rep. Wesley Hunt’s (R-Texas) Senate run — have already fizzled out.
The historic number of retirements comes as voters’ approval of the job Congress is doing hovers near record lows. Approval dipped to 14 percent in November — five points away from the all-time low of nine percent, recorded in 2013. It also coincides with a rising disapproval rating for Trump himself — hovering around 56 percent, according to a New York Times average — and little to no indication from the Republican majority that it will seek to act as a check on the president’s power.
A number of high-profile Democrats have also announced their retirements, including Reps. Steny Hoyer, 86, Nancy Pelosi, 85 and Jerry Nadler, 78. Their retirements come amid rising pressure from the Democratic base for older lawmakers step aside following a string of Democratic deaths in office. Three Democratic members serving in Congress have died this congressional session alone. (There are currently 218 Republicans in the House, 214 Democrats, and three open seats.)
At press time, only 374 members of the House were seeking reelection — the lowest number in the 21st century, and the second lowest since 1946. (The only year with fewer incumbents running was 1992; Democrats won an 82-seat majority that year.) Democrats have been overperforming in elections held in the last year, and the party currently holds a 14-point advantage over the GOP in terms of voter enthusiasm.
All of this has the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee feeling bullish about its chances this fall. “Republicans know they are going to lose in November,” DCCC spokesperson Justin Chermol tells Rolling Stone. “By retiring now, they’re avoiding the inevitable humiliation of losing their seats — and gavels. Good riddance.”
