As the 118th Congress continues to be turbulent, especially in the House of Representatives, members are opting not to run for another term, and with the instability, several are resigning from Congress early.
While 21 House Republicans have said they would retire at the end of their term, five House Republicans have either resigned or announced their intention to resign early. This drops the Republican majority in the House to 217-213, meaning the party can only stand to lose one vote along party lines. Here is a look at those five retiring Republicans.
Rep. Chris Stewart (R-UT)
Stewart announced his departure from the House of Representatives in June 2023, that his “wife’s health concerns” made it “necessary” for him to step down in September 2023. He would resign from the chamber effective Sept. 15, 2023.
He had been in the House of Representatives since 2013. Stewart was the first House Republican to resign during this Congress, and his decision came before much of the chaos in the chamber in the latter half of 2023.
Rep. Celeste Maloy (R-UT) would win a special election in November 2023 to replace Stewart for the remainder of the 118th Congress.
Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA)
McCarthy announced his resignation, effective Dec. 31, 2023, on Dec. 6, 2023, in an opinion piece for the Wall Street Journal.
“It is in this spirit that I have decided to depart the House at the end of this year to serve America in new ways. I know my work is only getting started,” McCarthy said in the op-ed.
He would step down months after he was ousted from the speakership by a group of eight Republicans, led by Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL), and all Democrats. McCarthy did not give a specific reason for why he was leaving the chamber, other than to say that he “leaving the House but not the fight.”
After being ousted from the speakership in October 2023, he had initially said he would remain in Congress, but McCarthy would ultimately reverse that decision months later.
The special election for McCarthy’s old seat in California‘s 20th Congressional District is scheduled for May 21.
Rep. Bill Johnson (R-OH)
Johnson announced his intention not to run for another term in November 2023, saying he had taken an offer to be the president of Youngstown State University.
He would resign from the House of Representatives effective Jan. 21, 2024. Johnson had served in the House since 2011.
The special election to fill Johnson’s seat is scheduled for June 11.
Rep. Ken Buck (R-CO)
Buck abruptly announced he would be resigning from Congress earlier this month, after previously saying he would not seek another term in the House of Representatives in November.
He had bashed the chamber for being dysfunctional after announcing his early resignation.
“It is the worst year of the nine years and three months that I’ve been in Congress. And having talked to former members, it’s the worst year in 40, 50 years to be in Congress,” Buck told CNN earlier this month.
“But I’m leaving because I think there’s a job to do out there that I want to go do,” he added.
Buck’s resignation was effective on Friday. He had previously been a part of the House Freedom Caucus and was one of the eight Republicans who voted to oust McCarthy.
The special election for Buck’s seat has not been finalized but is expected to line up with the June 25 primary election for the seat in Colorado. Rep. Lauren Boebert (R–CO) had previously announced her bid for Buck’s seat in the November election but decided against running in the special election, which some analysts say could hurt her chances. Buck has denied planning his departure for that reason.
Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-WI)
Gallagher, who had already said he would not seek another term in November, announced on Friday that he would resign from Congress early in April.
“Four terms serving Northeast Wisconsin in Congress has been the honor of a lifetime and strengthened my conviction that America is the greatest country in the history of the world,” Gallagher said in a statement on Friday.
“I will forever be proud of the work I did on the Armed Services and Intelligence Committees, chairing the Cyberspace Solarium Commission, and chairing the Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party,” he added.
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Gallagher, considered a rising star in the Republican conference, chaired the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party and has been in Congress since 2017.
He will step down from Congress effective April 19, further reducing the GOP majority in the chamber. Because of when Gallagher is set to resign, there will not be a special election to replace his seat, and it will remain vacant through the end of the Congress, per Wisconsin law.