In what just might be a not great sign for the GOP’s midterms outlook, Texas MAGA Congressman Jodey Arrington, chair of the powerful House Budget Committee on Tuesday told Fox News in a statement he will not be running for reelection in 2026, claiming he has “a firm conviction, much like our founders did, that public service is a lifetime commitment, but public office is and should be a temporary stint in stewardship, not a career” (eyeroll_and_jerkoff_hand_motion.gif goes here).

Last year Arrington – privately derided by other Republicans as a mental child – won reelection to his seat in Texas’s 19th District by 70 percent. The Dems didn’t even run a candidate against him, instead Arrington beat an independent and a Libertarian who combined for less than 20 percent of the vote. And no, the Trump-ordered gerrymander of the Lone Star State’s maps did not change that picture – because it’s literally the only district of the 38 whose borders were not redrawn.

Thus, barring any scandal like an active Grindr account or a hard drive with some child porn or both, it seems that Arrington is giving up his powerful post in what’s supposed to be another two years of a Republican trifecta under the belief that it won’t actually be a trifecta anymore come 2027 and would rather not have to sit there bitching powerlessly all day as the ranking member.

Arrington’s exit brings the House GOP’s pre-2026 attrition to 16. There were 19 Republicans in the chamber who had announced they were ghosting from their 2018 bids as of November 11, 2017.