Representative Sam Graves, a Missouri Republican, announced this week his intent to retire from Congress at the end of his term, adding another name to the now record-setting exodus of Republicans ahead of this year’s midterms.
This marks the 36th Republican to announce their retirement from Congress, which brings the total number of lawmakers departing Congress to 58. This exceeds the 34 Republicans who retired in 2018 during President Donald Trump’s first term and one of the highest levels of turnover seen in the House since 1930.
Newsweek reached out to House Speaker Mike Johnson’s office by email outside of normal business hours on Saturday for comment.
Why It Matters
Republicans have a slim majority in Congress with 217 seats to the Democrats’ 214, marking a sharp warning for a party that came out of the 2024 election on a high, having secured the White House and both chambers of Congress.
Trump pulled some Republicans from the House to serve in his Cabinet, including Mike Waltz of Florida and Representative Elise Stefanik of New York, whom he nominated for ambassador to the United Nations but later withdrew the nomination due to concerns that Republicans would lose their majority.
Other Republicans, such as Mark Green of Tennessee and Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, vacated their seats, while Doug LaMalfa of California passed away.
Historically, the ruling party suffer significant losses if they also control the White House during the sitting president’s first midterm election. Trump, recognizing this potential speed bump for his administration, urged states to redistrict their election maps and hand Republicans a boost, to which some Democrat-run states have responded with their own redistricting plans.
Polling shows most Americans believe the U.S. military action in the Iran war has gone too far, and voters are increasingly worried about Trump’s failure to address affordability issues. Trump brushed off any concerns at a gathering of Republicans this week and predicted his party will have larger congressional majorities after November’s elections.
What To Know
Graves announced Friday that he would not seek reelection, marking one of the highest-profile departures for Republicans since Greene’s retirement in January. Graves, who is 62 years old, has represented his district since 2001 and had even filed for reelection last month for what would have been his 14th term.
But that all changed when he posted on X that he’s “making room for the next generation.”
“After considerable reflection, 2026 will be my final year in Congress,” he wrote in a lengthy statement. “This wasn’t an easy decision, but it’s the right one. I believe in making room for the next generation. It’s time to pass the torch and allow a new guard of conservative leaders to step forward and chart a path forward for Missourians.”
“At the end of the day, I’m still the farmer from Northwest Missouri,” the congressman added. “You’ll find me back home on the farm nearly every weekend, after all, it is planting season. In fact, I’ll probably be on a tractor this weekend. And come Monday, I’ll be heading back through Kansas City on my way to D.C. to keep doing the job you sent me there to do. From the bottom of my heart, thank you.”
His departure brings the total number of Republican retirements from the House to 36, the highest level over the past century, according to Brookings Vital Statistics on Congress. The 34 retirements in 2018 is second-most, and the last two decades have seen a higher than usual level of retirements among Republicans between 2014 and 2022. Prior to that period, the highest number of Republican retirements was 27 in 1958, and 24 in 2008.
Democrats saw their largest-ever retirement count in 1992 when 41 lawmakers decided not to seek reelection, followed by 31 in 1978 and 1976 each, and 29 in each of 1936 and 1934.
The current rate of retirements has seen almost double the number of Republicans announce their intent to depart Congress compared to their colleagues across the aisle, but they still fall short of the collective peak of 65 retirements in 1992.
Some of those lawmakers have tried or are trying to gain a seat in the Senate, such as Barry Moore of Alabama and Julia Letlow of Louisiana, but the vast majority have indicated they are leaving Congress altogether.
What People Are Saying
President Donald Trump earlier this month on Truth Social: “The Democrat’s purposeful DHS SHUTDOWN is causing chaos at the airports. These Lunatics are being totally unreasonable in their Radical Left asks. They are FULLY TO BLAME, and must pay a big price, for the good of our Country, in the Midterm Elections. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”
Former GOP Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene on X earlier this week, in part: “After Trump called me a traitor and said he would destroy me for releasing the Epstein files, I refuse to fight for Trump and the Republican Party that defends the Epstein class, wages pointless foreign wars, and pursues America LAST. I never changed, Trump and the GOP betrayed their voters and took in the trash we threw out of the party.” Loomer, Levin, and Lady Lindsey are the BEST political consultants the Democrat Party could ever imagine!!!”
Representative Thomas Massie, a Kentucky Republican, on X in November 2025: “To avoid a repeat of last night’s shellacking in the 2026 midterms, Republicans should: Quit covering for pedophiles; put America before Israel; put farmers before corporations; quit funding wars abroad; reduce spending to control inflation; quit attacking independent voices.”
This article includes reporting by the Associated Press.
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