The U.S. House of Representatives may soon see a mass “exodus” of Republican lawmakers who are frustrated with their party’s inability to pass legislation and are anticipating Democrats retaking the chamber next year.

Multiple Republican lawmakers and aides have said they expect the retirement announcements to start pouring in over the coming weeks, with one insider estimating as many as 20 House Republicans throwing in the towel, according to a recent report in Puck. That’s on top of the 23 Republican representatives who have already announced they are retiring or running for other offices.

Related

GOP Rep. warns mass exodus of House Republicans is imminent: “Morale has never been lower”

As Puck’s Leigh Ann Calswell reports, many of the Republicans who have already announced plans to retire are significantly younger than the Democrats who have announced theirs. Democratic Reps. Jan Schakowsky (IL), Danny Davis (IL), Jerry Nadler (NY), Bonnie Watson Coleman (NJ), Dwight Evans (PA), Nydia Velázquez (NY), and former Speaker Nancy Pelosi (CA) are all in their 70s and 80s, while Reps. Jodey Arrington (TX), Troy Nehls (TX), and Morgan Luttrell (TX) are all in their 50s.

Republicans in the House, Calswell writes, are frustrated by their party’s lack of an agenda since passing Trump’s so-called “One Big Beautiful Bill – with Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) ceding congressional power to the president, along with the disruptive antics by far-right representatives and the party’s inability to pass legislation. This Congress has only gotten 46 bills signed into law — compared to the last Congress’s 274, which was already reportedly the least of any Congress since 1973.

Insights for the LGBTQ+ community

Subscribe to our briefing for insights into how politics impacts the LGBTQ+ community and more.
Subscribe to our Newsletter today

Last week, the New York Times reported that anti-trans Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) has been so frustrated with Johnson’s leadership that she was “planning to huddle with Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia… to discuss following her lead and retiring early from Congress.” Mace, who is currently running for governor of South Carolina, later denied that she was considering resigning.

While she told Calswell that she is tired of the party having to resort to filing discharge petitions to get its agenda passed because Johnson is reluctant to move bills forward, she said she is “going to try to stick it out” for the remainder of her term.

After Greene’s announcement last month, one senior House Republican told Punchbowl News that “more explosive early resignations are coming.”

“It’s a tinder box. Morale has never been lower. Mike Johnson will be stripped of his gavel and they will lose the majority before this term is out,” the anonymous Rep. said.

The wave of Republican retirements is not expected to affect the party’s slim majority, as most are expected from members in safe districts.

So far, Rep. Don Bacon (R-NE) is the only Republican member from a swing district who has announced his retirement. But, Calswell suggests, another reason so many Republican members are heading for the door may be that they expect Democrats to retake the House next year. A recent Gallup poll showed President Donald Trump’s approval rating at 36 percent, while approval for the GOP-led Congress was at just 14 percent. Across-the-board GOP losses in November’s off-year elections, along with Tennessee Republican Matt Van Epps’s single-digit victory last week in a district that Trump won by 22 points in 2024, all point to big losses for the party in 2026.

Should Democrats take the House next year, Republicans are likely dreading the thought of defending Trump against investigations and potential impeachment.

Calswell went so far as to suggest that if Democrats win back the House, Johnson himself may decide to retire.

Subscribe to the LGBTQ Nation newsletter and be the first to know about the latest headlines shaping LGBTQ+ communities worldwide.