In their Sunday story linked here earlier about Texas Republican Michael McCaul calling it quits, ABC News wrote that the formerly powerful ex-committee chair “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” which, strictly speaking, is a factually accurate statement.

It also kind of undersells the reality that quite a few more are still getting the eff out of DC – and actually at a slightly faster pace than in 2018. The right way to count this, based on Ballotpedia’s tracker, is to include the number who are running for office back in their home states – which is currently eight gubernatorial hopefuls plus Chip Roy who’s already declared his bid for Texas Attorney General – and exclude the five running for Senate. Then add that philanderer from Tennessee Mark Green who resigned in July and you have 13 who will not going to be showing up for work at the Capitol on January 3, 2027. Really should be 14 since shrill, barbaric monster Elise Stefanik is supposed to have already announced her bid for New York State governor.

At this same point in 2017 a total of 12 Republican House members had announced their intent not to seek reelection or run for the Senate – or had already resigned outright. This preceded an absolute dam burst between October 2017 and January 2018 – followed by a slower trickle that infamously included then-Speaker Paul Ryan, totaling 35 exits ahead of the 116th Congress.

For comparison five House Dems have already announced their retirements. The only one running for governor currently is New Jersey Congresswoman Mikie Sherrill, who will have to resign mid-cycle, probably sometime in December, in the likely event she wins the Garden State’s top office.

Another five Dems and Republicans each are running for Senate. In the upper chamber the two parties are tied at five each on retirements/announced gubernatorial runs. Two of the gov hopefuls, Colorado’s Mike Bennet and Tennessee idiot Marsha Blackburn, are looking for new jobs mid-cycle.