Voters routinely give Congress rock-bottom approval ratings, saying the institution is unaccountable and ineffective.
Some members of Congress would appear to agree. A near-record number of 68 lawmakers have said they will not run for reelection this cycle. Some are eyeing higher office, while others are leaving public service entirely.
“They’re looking for a better life,” quips Democratic Sen. Peter Welch of Vermont.
Why We Wrote This
Retiring legislators, and some who have been on Capitol Hill a long time, say they can hardly recognize the institution in which they serve. The changes could lead to a very different type of candidate who seeks to join the House or Senate.
Lawmakers and voters alike have long complained that Congress has become an environment where legislating takes a back seat to fundraising, media appearances, and partisan battles. But experts say those trends are increasing so much that the institution is repelling policy-minded candidates who actually want to pass laws.
“It may not be the case that you’re getting ordinary Americans shuffling through Congress, but you’re instead getting a very small minority of people” who may not be the ones willing to take on that wonky but important legislative work, says Ruth Bloch Rubin, an expert in American politics at the University of Chicago.
Whether they’re staying or going, many veteran lawmakers agree, as Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts puts it, that Congress is “absolutely not” the same as when she started serving in 2013. (Senator Warren is running for reelection.)
The Monitor interviewed five retiring lawmakers, and several others who have served for over a decade. Most say their work has been fulfilling, but they see increasing drawbacks. The constant pressure to fundraise is growing. They fear more than ever for their safety. And working across the aisle has become nearly impossible.
A chorus of lawmakers also says Congress has ceded more and more of its power to the executive branch, a concern particularly of the party that is not in power.
“The institution’s not doing the job that it’s assigned to do,” says Senator Welch. “We all know it.”
Republicans echo that sentiment, with Nebraska Rep. Don Bacon calling the political parties in Congress “dysfunctional.”
Maryland Democrat Steny Hoyer, who’s retiring after 45 years in the House, including over two decades in leadership, laments the loss of bipartisanship and says he’s “deeply concerned” that the body is not fulfilling its duties under the Constitution.
Public opinion polls show that most people think Congress might work better with term limits on members. But some experts say the fact that so many are leaving early highlights how the challenges in Congress – the difficulty of passing policy, and the institution’s deference to the president – means members who came to get things done are increasingly turning away frustrated.
For some who are staying – and for some would-be members running – legislating might not even be the priority.
Congress is increasingly for those “who are more interested in scoring political points on social media or on cable news than it is for people who want to try to make bipartisan deals,” says David Barker, a professor of government at American University. “It’s just not built for that anymore.”
“There doesn’t seem to be a ‘middle’”
Retiring Democratic Rep. Julia Brownley first got into politics when she ran for her local California school board to advocate for students like her daughter, who has dyslexia. After arriving on Capitol Hill in 2013, she used her position on the Veterans’ Affairs Committee to help pass bills, like one expanding travel reimbursement for veterans seeking medical care, with Republican support. She’s still on that committee, but collaboration has waned.
“There doesn’t seem to be a ‘middle’ to work with,” she says on a video call from her district office in Southern California.
Since the 1970s, studies show Democrats in Congress have steadily grown more liberal, and Republicans have grown even more conservative. A realignment took place over decades as many conservative Southern Democrats became Republicans and liberal Northeastern Republicans left the GOP. Partisan gerrymandering – when districts are redrawn to benefit a certain party or candidate – has further hollowed out the center.
Republican Rep. Michael McCaul of Texas, chairman emeritus of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, says he joined a “more respectful and collegial” House 22 years ago. Back then, the retiring congressman says, “working across the aisle was not a bad thing.”
The lack of bipartisanship has an effect: The 118th Congress, spanning 2023-2025, passed the fewest bills since the Civil War.
President Trump’s influence has sped up the exodus of moderate Republican members. Several, like North Carolina Sen. Thom Tillis, belong to a tiny group of Republicans who have publicly criticized the president and his administration. Of 10 GOP House members who voted to impeach Mr. Trump in 2021, most are gone. Only one, California Rep. David Valadao, is running for reelection; the other, Washington Rep. Dan Newhouse, is retiring.
The House and Senate leadership have deferred to the president, says Dr. Barker. “So if you’re a member who really just wants to make policy and wants to try to get stuff done, then you don’t really get a lot of chances to do that.”
Not the “Schoolhouse Rock!” process
Former Chairman McCaul has spent over two decades in the House after working in counterterrorism for the Texas state attorney’s office. Reflecting on his time as a congressman during a phone call between votes and meetings, he said a major point of frustration has been working hard to get things passed in the House only to see them go nowhere in the Senate.
He’s learned “if you want to get something passed, you’ve got to attach it to a must-pass bill” like appropriations, he says.
A 2024 study conducted by researchers at Pennsylvania State and Colorado State universities found that as polarization rises in Congress, fewer bills get passed – but those that do tend to be more sweeping. Partisanship, and slim majorities in the House and Senate, mean it’s often more effective for leadership to put their priorities into special bills that need fewer votes to pass, or into must-pass bills like yearly funding packages.
“Congress has moved further and further away from following regular order in lawmaking,” says Kevin Kosar, a senior fellow at the right-leaning American Enterprise Institute.
He cites, for example, the recent recurrence of government shutdowns when lawmakers can’t agree on annual funding.
Dr. Kosar says the commonly understood “Schoolhouse Rock!” process, where a member introduces a stand-alone bill that makes its way through a committee and is voted on, is becoming more rare. Lawmakers must stay on leadership’s good side, he says, hoping they can add their priorities into a massive spending package.
“It’s very disempowering,” says Dr. Kosar. A lot of members are “just kind of shocked at how impotent they feel.”
This year, 12 members of Congress, 11 of whom are Republicans, are leaving to run for governor in their home states – an executive office that allows for much more action and immediate results.
Rep. Ralph Norman, a Republican member of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, is running for South Carolina governor. He joined Congress in 2017, after working for his father’s construction business and then serving in state government. During an interview at his office overlooking the Capitol, he says he regrets that he wasn’t able to do more to reduce government spending.
In his tall-backed chair, he leans away from his desk. “As governor,” he says, “I can cut the budget. I’ll have direct control.”
“It shouldn’t be that way”
One challenge in particular has become far more acute in recent years: Members of Congress, and prominent politicians across the country, are facing a surge in threats. In 2025 Capitol Police investigated 14,938 cases of “concerning statements, behaviors, and communications” against members and their families. That’s nearly a 60% increase from 2024.
Events like last year’s arson attack at Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro’s home and the deadly shooting of Turning Point USA co-founder Charlie Kirk highlight a growing culture of political violence that’s causing some members like Maine’s Democratic Rep. Jared Golden, who is leaving office in a swing district, to question whether the cost of their work is growing too high. “As a father, I have to consider whether the good I can achieve outweighs everything my family endures as a result,” he wrote.
In the wake of Mr. Kirk’s assassination, Congress voted to allot each member $10,000 per month to cover personal security costs, up from $5,000 previously. Representative Norman says he now has a security guard who accompanies him to town halls.
“It shouldn’t be that way, but it is what it is,” he says. “You saw what happened to Charlie Kirk. … That’s just part of it now.”
Sound bites and cameras
Jonathan Lewallen, a professor at the University of Tampa who has written about the decline of legislating in Congress, says a shift in the media environment has changed the way members think about their jobs. His research shows coverage of Congress has shifted more toward TV and radio and away from print as many newspapers have closed. At the same time, social media has expanded and popularized quick sound bites. Dr. Lewallen says this shapes the day-to-day business of Congress, as lawmakers focus more on issues they think the media will cover.
Several members who have built a strong online presence during their time in Congress, like Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and former GOP Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, were never the primary sponsors of any bill that passed into law.
“And if that’s the case, what’s the point of being in Congress?” asks Dr. Lewallen. “If you’re just issuing press releases and giving speeches anyway, why not just have a podcast?”
In a changed Congress, who fits in?
This year’s turnover, which is tilted more toward Republicans, could help Democrats take control of the House, and possibly the Senate. But it could also reshape Congress in other ways, bringing in a wave of different types of Republicans and Democrats.
The ability to attract attention through social media tends to reward candidates who lean into controversy and conflict more than those who want to work across divisions on policy. Still, Dr. Kosar says a new class of members could make things better, by refusing to treat having a majority as a “winner-takes-all” situation.
“You sometimes get these influxes of members who have broadly shared ideas about what’s wrong with the way Congress is working, and they want to work to change things,” he says. Given how “miserable” many now appear to be, he doesn’t think it would take too many new voices to spur change.
Democratic Sen. Mark Warner, who is running again, says he values bipartisan wins he had earlier in his Senate career, which began in 2009. That spirit of bipartisanship “feels gone,” the Virginian says, “but I think it’s got to come back.”