GOP lawmakers are fleeing for the exit in droves, with many pointing to a Congress that they argue has grown too dysfunctional and a demanding schedule that leaves little time for their families.

More than 50 lawmakers in both parties have announced decisions to leave their seats, scrambling the calculus on both sides of the aisle ahead of next year’s high-stakes midterms.

The wave of exits could be particularly ominous for Republicans in charge of the House and Senate. The number exiting is nearly on par with 2018, a dismal midterm year for the GOP.

Some lawmakers frustrated with inaction on Capitol Hill plan to run for governor and other state-wide offices, while others are stepping back from public office altogether. 

Those leaving include high-profile conservative and progressive firebrands such as Reps. Chip Roy (R-Texas) and Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.), and battle-tested moderates such as Reps. Don Bacon (R-Neb.) and Jared Golden (D-Maine), who have repeatedly run for reelection and won in competitive districts.

Bacon told The Hill that a major reason he’s leaving is because he wants to “do something different,” including spending more time with his grandchildren and having a healthier lifestyle. 

But while he said that was the major reason, Congress’s problems also played a role.

“I just was ready for something new. I know my wife was. So, that’s the major reason. I think the more minor reasons are … I’ll say that the dysfunction isn’t attractive,” Bacon said.

“I think, two, it’s hard — you got to be a really master tactician to run against the left and at the same time disagree with the president on a lot of things. And I’ve done it. I’ve done it since 2020, and I don’t know, to me, I’m just, I just knew it was time for a change,” he said.

Golden wrote in an op-ed for the Bangor Daily News that he’s grown “tired of the increasing incivility and plain nastiness that are now common from some elements of our American community—behavior that, too often, our political leaders exhibit themselves.”

Another high-profile House member leaving in January is Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), who was once a top ally of Trump’s.

“No matter which way the political pendulum swings, Republican or Democrat, nothing ever gets better for the common American man or woman,” she said in a statement announcing her decision.

Rep. Ralph Norman (R-S.C.), who’s pursuing a gubernatorial bid in South Carolina, told The Hill he feels he can get more done on a statewide level than in Congress.

“I can accomplish far more on a national level being governor,” Norman said. “You know, you got what, 50 governors, you got 435 members of Congress, 100 Senators, 535. So my voice will be heard far greater as a CEO of South Carolina.”

Democrats argue a big problem with the House is the unwillingness of most Republicans to take on Trump.

“So long as the biggest fear of many Republicans is the danger of a mean Trump tweet, the House will remain broken,” Rep. Lloyd Doggett (D-Texas), who is retiring in light of GOP-friendly redistricting in Texas, told The Hill via email. 

Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-N.J.) told The Hill she’s retiring because she thinks she’s contributed as much as she could during her time in Congress. 

“I had tried to advance the issues that were of concern to me. … And I just thought that it’s now someone else’s turn to take up that mantle and hopefully carry out some of the values that I thought were important in terms of our domestic policy and our international policy,” she said.

But she added that, “I don’t disagree that Congress right now is at its weakest point, that it is becoming a tool of the administration and not in a good way at all.”

Some lawmakers feel they “hit a kind of wall” on Capitol Hill, said Michael Romano, a Shenandoah University political science professor who has studied congressional retirements. 

“Either they’ve done what they feel like they needed to do in Washington, or they are kind of running into walls of … not being able to do the things that they wanted to do in Washington anymore,” Romano said. “Either out of frustration or out of a desire to maybe try and come at the political game a little bit from a different angle, Congress might not be for them anymore.”

Former Rep. Donna Edwards (D-Md.), president-elect of the Association of Former Members of Congress, said Congress is “a tough place to be.”

“It doesn’t matter the environment, especially when you have a family, and spending so much time away from your family, away from your home, it really takes a toll,” said Edwards, who left her House seat to run for Senate in 2016 and lost a primary race to reclaim her seat in 2022. 

She also said the possibility that Democrats might win back the House could have Republicans thinking about leaving.

“Any time you have what may look like a significant transition in leadership, perhaps Democrats perhaps seeing that they can flip the House from Republicans, you will have members who make the determination that they may not want to serve in the minority,” she said.

The number of lawmakers not seeking reelection for their seat this cycle — 30 Republicans and 23 Democrats, according to a Ballotpedia tracker updated Dec. 23 — has drawn comparisons to the 2018 midterms, when 37 Republican lawmakers departed, compared to just 18 Democrats, and Democrats saw a blue wave of wins. 

“Rather than fighting it out in a tough general election where they’re facing headwinds based on their partisanship, [you see] members deciding ‘it’s not worth the fight, and so I’m going to sort of fold up my chair and go home,’” said Charlie Hunt, a Boise State University political science professor focused on Congress.

“That’s definitely what we’re seeing from Republicans this year, in the same way that we saw from them in 2018: They see this blue wave coming, and instead, they are opting to sort of get out of the way of the wave,” he added. 

Not everyone wants to leave Congress behind.

Reps. Jasmine Crockett (D-Texas), Chris Pappas (D-N.H.), Harriet Hageman (R-Wyo.) and Mike Collins (R-Ga.) are among more than a dozen House lawmakers who are aiming to jump from the House to the Senate.

And some former lawmakers are mounting midterm comeback bids, such as former Rep. Colin Allred (D-Texas), who left the House to challenge Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) for the Senate last year

“It’s critical to have proven leaders who can fix the broken system in Washington and deliver results,” Allred spokesperson Sandhya Raghavan told The Hill in a statement. 

Former Rep. Cori Bush (D-Mo.), the progressive “squad” member who lost her bid for reelection in a 2024 primary, is also running to reclaim her seat, and former Rep. Mayra Flores (R-Texas) is trying for a third time to beat Rep. Vicente Gonzalez (D-Texas) for the seat she held for roughly half a year following a 2022 special election. 

Edwards predicted more retirement announcements could be on the horizon as filing deadlines approach, and that many may come from the GOP given the historic disadvantage of the president’s party in a midterm year.

“I suspect that this is not going to be the end of the big tidal wave of retirements that we’re seeing,” Edwards said.