Republican Rep. Michael McCaul won't seek reelection after 11 terms [View all]

Source: ABC News

September 14, 2025, 9:04 AM


Texas Republican Congressman Michael McCaul announced Sunday that he will not seek re-election in 2026. McCaul, a former chairman of the Homeland Security and Foreign Affairs committees, joins two other House Republicans who announced their retirement from public office this year: McCaul's fellow Texan Rep. Morgan Luttrell and Rep. Don Bacon of Nebraska.

McCaul, who was first elected to Congress in 2004 and is serving his 11th term, told “This Week” co-anchor Martha Raddatz that he was “looking for a new challenge.” “It's been an honor to serve for over two decades in the Congress,” McCaul said, adding that while he planned to serve the remainder of his term, 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.”

McCaul’s district, which represents parts of Austin and spans as far east as the Houston suburbs, leans heavily Republican. He handily won reelection in 2024, defeating his Democratic opponent by nearly 30 points.

Texas Republicans redrew their congressional maps last month in an attempt to capture five new GOP-leaning House seats in next year’s midterms, slightly weakening McCaul’s district. Under the previous map, 61.6% of the district's population voted for President Donald Trump, compared to 60.5% of the population under the newly drawn lines, according to data from the Texas Legislative Council.

Read more: https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/republican-rep-michael-mccaul-wont-seek-reelection-after/story?id=125552752