36 House members won’t seek re-election amid partisan dysfunction

Republican Representative. Don Bacon won nine bitter GOP primary and general election battles over the past decade in his U.S. House swing district.

But a retired Air Force general and moderate Republican representing a congressional district in Omaha, Nebraska, told Fox News Digital that “there's no fire there anymore.”

Bacon, who announced this summer that he would not seek a sixth two-year term. in Congress in next year's midterm elections, is one of 36 members of the U.S. House of Representatives who have announced they will not seek re-election next year.

And a surge in retirement numbers could weigh on next year's midterm elections as Republicans seek to defend their fragile House majority.

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“We're above average,” said David Wasserman, senior editor and election analyst for the nonpartisan political publication The Cook Report, pointing to the pace of the election. Home Retirement Announcements so far in this cycle.

And we still have six weeks left until 2026.

Waves of retirement announcements traditionally come in the last month or two, during the height of the holiday season, a year before congressional elections.

Party breakdown for retirees currently: 15 Democrats and 21 Republicans.

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The handful of Democrats heading out are in their 70s and 80s, retiring after long tenures in the House. The most famous of them is the 85-year-old former Speaker of the House of Representatives. Nancy Pelosi.

But this is another sign that the bitter party feud in House has made the lower house of Congress less than a pleasant working environment, the majority of members up for re-election are much younger.

Among those not seeking re-election next year is Republican Rep. Jody Arrington of Texas, 53, chairman of the House Budget Committee, who shared news of his retirement. first with Fox News Digital.

“I have the strong belief, as did our founders, that public service is a lifelong commitment, but public office is and should be a temporary employment in government, not a career,” Arrington said.

Also on the list is moderate Democratic Rep. Jared Golden of Maine, who is just 43 years old.

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“After 11 years as a legislator, I am tired of the increasing incivility and outright viciousness that has now become commonplace among some elements of our American community—behavior that is too often exhibited by our political leaders,” Golden wrote last week in an op-ed for the Bangor Daily News, where he outlined his surprise decision.

“I'm not afraid to lose. It became obvious to me that I was now afraid of the prospect of victory. Simply put, what I could have accomplished in this increasingly unproductive Congress pales in comparison to what I could have accomplished while a husband, father and son,” Golden said.

Pointing to Golden's comments, Bacon noted: “He said what I felt. The thought of winning was unappealing this cycle. If winning seems a little depressing, then it’s better to let someone else run.”

“I think that’s where this hyper-partisan ugliness fits in. The thought of winning and living for another two years did not bring me satisfaction,” he added.

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Former member of the Democratic Party. Annie Custer of New Hampshire, who retired a year ago after 12 years in the House, said dysfunction and political tensions in Congress “definitely were factors” in her decision to leave.

“In 12 years, it's become a lot more difficult to work between the aisles,” Custer told Fox News Digital. “It has become much more fragmented, partisan and less congenial.”

Custer said, “The important factor for me was that most of the moderate Republicans with whom I worked all along had left Congress. The people who came were more hard-line right-wingers.”

Bacon, who describes himself as an old-fashioned Republican in the style of Ronald Reagan, joked that he was “stuck in the middle” with “crazy people on the right and crazy people on the left.”

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While some, like Bacon and Arrington, are taking a break from politics, most of those not seeking re-election to their House seats are running for statewide office next year.

Wasserman said that “there is a sense on the Republican side that not much will get done in the next two years of Trump's presidency beyond OBBBA.”

OBBBA is an acronym for the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, a sweeping GOP domestic policy bill passed along party lines by the Republican-controlled House and Senate this summer that is a centerpiece of the president's policies. Donald Trumpsecond term agenda.

“They've done the hard work, and now there are opportunities to make a bigger impact in other places,” Wasserman said.

The bitter battle between Republicans and Democrats over the measure was another sign of the flawed partisan climate on Capitol Hill.

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But Bacon remained optimistic about the future of Congress.

“When people leave, new people come, and I know there are good people,” he said.