‘I now dread the prospect of winning’: Congress faces exodus ahead of 2026 midterms

One in 10 lawmakers will leave Congress at the end of the year, the most retirements in more than three decades.

To date, 61 members of Congress, 52 from the House and nine from the Senate, have announced plans to retire at the end of the term or are leaving to run for other offices.

The number could rise in the coming months, but it is already the highest since the 1990s and the second-largest in roughly a century, according to data compiled by the Brookings Institution that dates back to 1930.

The top year for congressional retirements was 1992, when 65 House members and seven senators left or ran for other offices. Those 72 voluntary departures — many more lost reelection campaigns that year — were the result of various factors, including redistricting changes, lawmakers caught up in a House check-bouncing scandal and a wave of anti-incumbent sentiment.

The 60 lawmakers leaving this year do not include another three senators whose terms are not up but are running for governor in their states and would have to resign from the Senate if they win: Republican Sen. Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee and Democratic Sens. Michael F. Bennet of Colorado and Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota.

Retiring senators

Of the nine senators leaving when their terms are up at the end of the year, eight are simply retiring. They include former Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, Kentucky Republican, and Minority Whip Richard J. Durbin, Illinois Democrat.

Mr. McConnell, who turns 84 on Friday, has served in the Senate for 41 years. Mr. Durbin, 81, has served for 29 years. Respectively, they rank second and fifth in Senate seniority.

The youngest retiring senator is 55-year-old Joni Ernst, Iowa Republican. She and Sens. Thom Tillis, North Carolina Republican, and Gary C. Peters, Michigan Democrat, are leaving after their second six-year terms.

Sen. Cynthia Lummis, 71, Wyoming Republican, initially planned to run for a second term but decided to retire instead.

Ms. Lummis’ retirement announcement was among the most transparent. She said she had “come to accept that I do not have six more years in me.”

“I am a devout legislator, but I feel like a sprinter in a marathon,” she said. “The energy required doesn’t match up.”

Another first-term senator, Tommy Tuberville, Alabama Republican, is running for governor instead of reelection.

Aside from Mr. McConnell, the Democrats’ departures will have the greatest impact on the Senate because they are leaving top committee roles open. Mr. Durbin, Mr. Peters and Sen. Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, who is retiring after her third term, are the top Democrats, respectively, on the Judiciary, Homeland Security and Foreign Relations committees.

House members eye vacancies

Not all of the 60 lawmakers giving up their seats are leaving Congress. Fifteen House members — eight Republicans and seven Democrats — are running for Senate, including nine seeking to replace the departing senators.

Among Republicans, Rep. Andy Barr of Kentucky is running for Mr. McConnell’s seat, Rep. Ashley Hinson of Iowa for Ms. Ernst’s, Rep. Harriet Hageman of Wyoming for Ms. Lummis’ and Rep. Barry Moore of Alabama for Mr. Tuberville’s.

Five House Democrats are taking advantage of the Senate vacancies, including Rep. Haley Stevens of Michigan, running for Mr. Peters’ seat, and Rep. Chris Pappas of New Hampshire for Ms. Shaheen’s.

Rep. Angie Craig of Minnesota is running to replace a fellow Democrat, Sen. Tina Smith.

Reps. Raja Krishnamoorthi and Robin Kelly of Illinois are battling in a crowded Democratic primary to fill Mr. Durbin’s seat.

They are not the only House members running against each other. Reps. Mike Collins and Buddy Carter of Georgia are vying for the Republican nomination to challenge Sen. Jon Ossoff.

Perhaps most notable among the House members running for Senate are the three mounting primary challenges to incumbents.

Rep. Seth Moulton of Massachusetts is the only House Democrat challenging a sitting senator, two-term incumbent Sen. Edward J. Markey. Mr. Moulton, 47, is running on generational change, arguing that it is time for the 79-year-old senator to pass the torch.

Two House Republicans are also challenging their party’s senators.

Rep. Julia Letlow of Louisiana and Rep. Wesley Hunt of Texas are pitching themselves as more in line with President Trump’s agenda than incumbent Sens. Bill Cassidy and John Cornyn.

Rep. Jasmine Crockett of Texas is seeking the Democratic nomination in the Texas race.

Party distinctions

More Republicans are departing the House at the end of this term than Democrats, 30 to 22.

The departures offer some signal that Republicans are not confident that they can hold on to or expand their narrow majority, though most will not say so publicly.

A loss of the Republican majority would align with historical trends. A president who enters office with his party controlling the House typically loses that chamber in the subsequent midterm cycle.

A majority of departing House Republicans are not finished with politics. Nineteen are running for other offices: eight for Senate, 10 for governor and one for attorney general.

Only eight House Democrats are leaving to run for other offices, and 14 are simply retiring.

Former Speaker Nancy Pelosi, 85, of California, and former Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer, 86, of Maryland, are among those 14, two of several long-serving Democrats stepping aside as the party pushes for generational change.

Rep. Jerrold Nadler, 78, of New York, is retiring after being nudged out of his role as the top Democrat on the Judiciary Committee.

One of the 14 Democrats retiring is Delegate Eleanor Norton Holmes, 88, the nonvoting representative for the District of Columbia.

Two of the retiring House members would have faced tough reelection campaigns if they opted to run.

Rep. Don Bacon of Nebraska is leaving an open seat for Republicans to defend in a district that Mr. Trump lost by 5 percentage points in 2024.

Rep. Jared Golden of Maine is leaving Democrats in an even bigger lurch as they try to hold on to a district that Mr. Trump won by 10 points.

Mr. Bacon and Mr. Golden are among a dying breed of centrists, willing to work across the aisle and vote with the other party on issues of importance. The lack of bipartisan productivity factored into their decisions.

“I don’t fear losing. What has become apparent to me is that I now dread the prospect of winning,” Mr. Golden wrote in his retirement announcement. “Simply put, what I could accomplish in this increasingly unproductive Congress pales in comparison to what I could do in that time as a husband, a father and a son.”