Congress is losing some of its biggest names, and the exits keep piling up.
Pelosi. McConnell. Hoyer. The old guard is clearing out all at once.
And the full list of who won’t be coming back next Congress will leave you stunned at just how much is about to change in Washington, D.C.
The Biggest Names Calling It Quits
Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, 85, announced she will not seek reelection, closing the book on nearly four decades representing San Francisco. “I will not be seeking reelection to Congress,” Pelosi said in a video message to her constituents. Her seat, which she has held since 1987, will open up for the first time in nearly 40 years.
And whatever you think of Pelosi — and plenty of conservatives have very strong opinions — her departure does mark the end of something. She was the engine behind some of the most damaging legislation of the modern era, from the original Obamacare push to two impeachments of President Donald Trump. In one of her most infamous moments of Trump’s first term, Pelosi tore up a copy of the president’s State of the Union speech while sitting behind him during the nationally televised address. Good riddance, many would say. But she was also a ruthless, effective political operator, and the Democrat Party will feel that absence heading into a brutal midterm cycle.
At the White House, President Trump was asked about Pelosi’s retirement. Trump said, “I think she’s an evil woman.”
On the Senate side, Senator Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., the longest-serving Senate leader in history, announced on his 83rd birthday that he won’t seek reelection next year, bringing an end to his four-decade career in the chamber. McConnell spent the last several years of his career as a thorn in the side of the America First movement, voting against three of Trump’s cabinet nominees: Pete Hegseth for Secretary of Defense, Tulsi Gabbard for the Director of National Intelligence, and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for Secretary of Health and Human Services.
McConnell was an establishment RINO who practically begged the Joe Biden Department of Justice to prosecute Trump for the January 6 hoax.
The Democrats’ Old Guard Walks Out Together
The Democrat side of the ledger reads like a who’s who of aging establishment figures who have been collecting paychecks in Washington, D.C. since the Reagan era.
Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) is retiring from Congress after serving 45 years in the lower chamber. Hoyer, 86, served as Nancy Pelosi’s number two for decades and helped muscle through some of the most expensive and intrusive legislation in American history. “I did not want to be one of those members who clearly stayed, outstayed his or her ability to do the job,” Hoyer told the Washington Post.
Rep. Jerry Nadler, D, who has represented New York City in Congress for more than 32 years, announced he will retire at the end of his current term and won’t seek reelection in 2026. Nadler, 78, was the face of two Trump impeachment proceedings in the House Judiciary Committee — proceedings that most Americans now recognize as the partisan lawfare they always were. He said, “Watching the Biden thing really said something about the necessity for generational change in the party, and I think I want to respect that.”
And then there is the broader picture. Hoyer, 86, will retire after serving 23 terms. Pelosi, 85, will retire after serving 20 terms. Danny Davis, 84, will retire after serving 15 terms. Jan Schakowsky, 81, will retire after serving 14 terms. The Democrat Party is not just losing incumbents. It is losing an entire generation of leadership at once.
Republicans Heading for the Exits — and the Primaries
The Republican departures tell a different story. Some are leaving voluntarily. Others got pushed.
Senator Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) announced his retirement after breaking with President Trump on the One Big Beautiful Bill. The announcement came one day after Tillis was one of only two Republican senators to oppose advancing Trump’s domestic policy package, citing concerns about its Medicaid reforms. Tillis had spent years positioning himself as the kind of “independent thinker” the establishment media loves — which is another way of saying he was more interested in earning praise from the Washington Post than delivering results for the people who elected him. Tillis was also a RINO who backed amnesty.
Senator Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) also announced she won’t seek reelection. Ernst is the fourth Republican senator to decide against seeking reelection this cycle. In late June, North Carolina’s Thom Tillis declared that he would not seek a third term. Kentucky’s Mitch McConnell is leaving the chamber next year, while Alabama Sen. Tommy Tuberville is running for governor.
But the most dramatic exit of all belonged to Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky, who didn’t choose to leave — he got thrown out. Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) lost his primary to a challenger backed by President Donald Trump. Ed Gallrein, a farmer and former Navy SEAL recruited by Trump, beat Massie in the most expensive U.S. House primary on record. The race drew more than $32 million in ad spending.
Massie had built a reputation as one of the most principled fiscal conservatives in the House, and his supporters genuinely believe he was punished for holding the line on spending and foreign entanglements. “There is a yearning in this country for someone who will vote for principles over party,” Massie said in his concession speech. But Massie also voted against Trump’s signature legislative priorities and made himself a persistent obstacle to the America First agenda. He pushed for the release of the Jeffrey Epstein files and voted against the president’s signature tax legislation. Trump called him “an obstructionist and a fool.” The voters of Kentucky’s 4th District ultimately sided with the president.
Crockett Swings for the Senate — and Misses
On the Democrat side, Rep. Jasmine Crockett of Texas made one of the cycle’s boldest gambles, giving up her House seat to run for the U.S. Senate. It didn’t pay off.
Rep. Jasmine Crockett lost the Democratic primary for U.S. Senate in Texas to state Rep. James Talarico. Crockett had become one of the left’s biggest social media stars, famous for her combative style in House committee hearings and her sharp attacks on President Trump. But celebrity doesn’t always translate to votes, and Texas Democrats chose a different direction.
Her House seat is now open. Crockett, first elected to a Dallas-based House seat in 2022, broke out on the national stage as a progressive firebrand with her tough questioning of witnesses before the House Oversight Committee and attacks against President Donald Trump. But the voters who matter most in a Texas general election were never going to warm up to what she was selling.
The Bigger Picture Heading Into November
The sheer scale of these departures is worth sitting with for a moment. One in eight members of Congress now say they plan to leave their current seats after this election cycle, the second-highest total in the last century. As of May 20, there are 71 current representatives and senators who are retiring or running for a different office — 14 senators and 57 House members.
There have never been this many Senate Republicans retiring at once in the last century, records show. And Republicans hold narrow majorities in both chambers heading into an election year where the party in power historically faces headwinds. The open seats created by all these retirements give Democrats pickup opportunities they wouldn’t otherwise have.
But there’s another way to read this. The old establishment — on both sides — is clearing out. The Never-Trump Republicans who spent years gumming up the works are gone or going. The ancient Democrat leadership class that ran the party for a generation is finally stepping aside. What comes next in both parties will look very different from what came before.
And if the primary results in Kentucky are any indication, Trump’s grip on the Republican base remains as strong as ever. The voters sent a message loud and clear: you’re either with the America First agenda or you’re looking for a new line of work.
The 2026 midterms are shaping up to be one of the most consequential elections in a generation. The names on the ballot this fall will be different. The question is whether the voters who turned out for Donald Trump in 2024 show up again to protect everything he’s fighting to build.
Sources: NPR Congressional Retirement Tracker; CBS News; CNN; The Washington Post; Fox News; PBS NewsHour; Roll Call; Washington Examiner; Ballotpedia; 19th News; PBS News