Dozens in Congress retiring before the 2026 Midterms – mostly Republicans | World | News
Huge numbers of Congressmen and women are retiring ahead of the election. (Image: Getty)
More Republicans are retiring than Democrats ahead of the Midterms. (Image: AP)
Dozens of US House members have announced they are not running for re-election, putting a record number of seats up for grabs at this point in the midterm election cycle.
Some are seeking other offices, while others are retiring after decades of service. A few members are departing instead of running in unfamiliar districts after their state’s leaders redrew the boundaries during an unusual flurry of redistricting.
More than 1 in 8 incumbents plan to leave, which is the highest percentage at this point in the calendar since at least President Barack Obama’s administration, according to an Associated Press analysis of House retirements going back to 2013.
Fifty-eight current representatives — 21 Democrats and 37 Republicans — have announced they will retire from the House after this year, as of April 28, 2026. That total doesn’t include the nine members who resigned or died this term and whose seats will be filled before the November General Election, and does include those who lost renomination.
Members of the current Congress have announced departure plans earlier than in years past. In the first half of 2025, 15 representatives announced they were planning on leaving the House. In the previous decade, an average of nine representatives announced retirements in the first six months of a term.
These early retirement announcements have come as President Donald Trump and Republican leadership try to preserve a narrow House majority. The president’s party usually loses congressional seats in midterm elections. In recent years, that’s meant more members of the party in power have headed for the exits. This year, slightly more Republicans than Democrats have announced retirements.
Three factors have contributed to the spike in retirements this year:
Other offices are more appealing
The first is that a large number of Senate seats and governors’ offices are open or competitive. Twelve senators have announced they would vacate their seats at the end of the term, either to seek other office or to retire. And 36 states have gubernatorial elections this year, 15 of which have term-limited incumbents.
In total, 30 — a majority of retiring House members — said they would seek another office. Sixteen said they would seek Senate seats, and 12 announced campaigns for governor. Some have since dropped out of those races.
Congress has aged
The second is systemic: more older lawmakers are retiring because Congress itself is older. As the national population has aged and long-running trends have made incumbents increasingly likely to win reelection, Congress has steadily gotten older, especially this century.
As of Jan. 1, the median age of all voting members of the 119th Congress is just under 59 years old. The median House member is 57 and the median senator is almost 65 — both slightly below the record highs reached in the 118th Congress. By contrast, from 1919 to 1999, the median senator never eclipsed 60 years old, and the median representative never surpassed 55.
That age shift is especially evident among retiring legislators. Among all lawmakers leaving after the 119th Congress — including those running for other offices — the median retiring senator is over 68, and the median retiring representative is about 57. When limited to politicians who are not seeking other offices, both groups skew older: The median retiring senator is over 70, and the median retiring representative is 67. Four of the 10 oldest members of Congress are retiring after this term, as of April 28, 2026.
Mid-decade redistricting shakes up maps
And the third is unique to 2026. Six states have adopted new congressional maps since the last General Election, with more entertaining redistricting in response to Trump’s desire to redraw lines to be more favourable to the Republican Party.
Incumbents in states ranging from California to Texas have been drawn into districts together or have opted out of running in new versions of their districts that are much less favourable.
So far, only a small number of representatives – two in Texas – have specifically cited redistricting as the reason for their departure. But as more states finalise their lines, others could find themselves running against colleagues or eying the exits.
