It was November 7th, 2017 when Republican Congressmen Frank LoBiondo and Ted Poe saw the writing on the wall from that year’s off-off-year elections and announced they would not be running for reelection or for the Senate in 2018, making them the 17th and 18th to ghost from Capitol Hill.
Right now at this point ahead of the 2026 midterms there have been 16 House Republicans who have either announced a gubernatorial run (or Attorney General in the case of Chip Roy), their retirement, or already resigned (Mark Green from Tennessee). For comparison eight Dems have called it quits, plus Mikie Sherrill who hopefully will wait until the last minute to resign from her seat as to not fuck up the Epstein files discharge petition (if her exit somehow invalidates her signature).