Another GOP Congressman Heads for the Exits

The list of members of Congress who are heading for the exits has grown a little longer, with an 11-term Republican from Texas announcing Sunday that he will not run for reelection next year and instead would be seeking “new challenges” outside government.Michael McCaul, 63, who represents a district stretching from the Hill Country of central Texas to Houston, announced on ABC’s “This Week” Sunday morning that his time in Congress will come to end at the conclusion of the 120th Congress next year.“It’s been an honor to serve for over two decades in the Congress,” Mr. McCaul said, adding that he wanted to “continue to serve the people in this country in national security and foreign policy and do what I’ve done the last two decades: make America stronger and the world safer.”Mr. McCaul, a former chairman of the House Foreign Affairs and Homeland Security committees who was first elected to Congress in 2004, did not elaborate on his post-Congress plans. In a social media post following the appearance, he called his time on the Hill the “honor of a lifetime.”“My father’s service in World War II inspired me to pursue a life of public service, with a focus on defending our great nation against global threats, and I have been proud to carry out that mission in Congress for more than two decades,” he said. “I am ready for a new challenge in 2027 and look forward to continuing to serve my country in the national security and foreign policy realm.”Earlier this month, the governor of Texas, Greg Abbott, signed off on a Republican-led effort to redraw Texas’s congressional maps in order to favor President Trump’s Republican party by creating five new GOP-leaning seats from the state in time for next year’s midterm election. State House Democrats walked out for several weeks to prevent a quorum and delay the bill’s passage, but ultimately failed in their efforts to block the law. Civil rights groups in the state already have filed lawsuits to block the new maps, alleging that they are discriminatory and violate the Voting Rights Act.A three-judge panel in the Western District of Texas has scheduled a preliminary injunction hearing for October 1 to consider the legal challenges. The court’s ruling will determine whether the new districts can take effect for the upcoming elections.The announcement by Mr. McCaul — whose district is considered a safe Republican one and would not have been affected by the redistricting — brings to 27 the total of incumbents in the House, 10 Democrats and 16 Republicans, who have said they will not seek reelection in 2026. The most recent was Mr. McCaul’s colleague from Texas’s 8th Congressional District, Morgan Luttrell, who announced his intention to step down on Thursday of last week.Eight of the House members, five Democrats and now three Republicans, who are not running said they are retiring from public office altogether. Ten are stepping aside in order to seek seats in the U.S. Senate in their respective states, and eight — all of them Republicans — are resigning in order to pursue gubernatorial bids.

Another GOP Congressman Heads for the Exits

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