Texas Republican Rep. Michael McCaul, a foreign policy leader who formerly chaired the House Homeland Security and Foreign Affairs Committees, announced Sunday that he will not seek reelection in 2026 after 11 terms.
On ABC’s “This Week,” McCaul called it “the honor of a lifetime” to serve his constituents of central Texas and chair the two Congressional House committees.
He said he will serve out the remainder of his term but is looking for a “new challenge” in the national security and foreign policy realm. In a post on X shortly after the announcement, McCaul wrote that he’s “ready for a new challenge in 2027”.
“I want to continue to serve the people in this country in national security and foreign policy, and do what I’ve done the last two decades – make America stronger and the world safer,” McCaul said.
McCaul had served as chairman of the powerful House Foreign Affairs Committee and had been one of the strongest advocates for U.S. support for Ukraine. On Sunday, he disputed Mr. Trump’s comments last week that the incursion of Russian drones over Poland’s airspace could be a mistake.
“With all deference to the president, I don’t think that was a mistake. I think [Russian President Vladimir] Putin is testing the resolve of NATO,” McCaul said.
McCaul did not announce any plans to run for another office, joining two other House Republicans who have announced they plan to retire. McCaul is one of only four Republicans from Texas whose time in the House predates President Trump’s first term.
His announcement comes amid a time of change for Texas Republicans as state lawmakers have pushed through a rare mid-decade redistricting in an effort to gain more seats for the party in the U.S. House. Although according to a CBS News analysis of the districts based on the 2024 vote for Mr. Trump, the ideological makeup of McCaul’s district is not likely to change much.
McCaul joins two other Texas Republicans who have already announced they will not seek reelection, although one of them, Rep. Chip Roy, has announced he will instead run for Texas Attorney General.
McCaul most recently led a multi-year investigation into the U.S. withdrawal from Aghanistan, in which 13 service members were killed in a suicide bombing in Kabul. He spoke to “Face the Nation” last year about the report, criticizing President Biden who he claimed “[prioritized] politics and his personal legacy over America’s national security interests”.
In 2023 as chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee, McCaul led a bipartisan delegation of House members to Taiwan to meet with Taiwanese business leaders and senior government officials in an effort to strengthen economic and defense relationships. The representative was sanctioned by the Chinese Communist Party after the visit, which McCaul wore as “a badge of honor“.
McCaul told “This Week” that the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks changed his life. Before becoming a member of Congress, he worked as a counterterrorism federal prosecutor with the Department of Justice. Looking back at his career as a congressmember, McCaul recounted the events he’s seen.
“I saw the rise of ISIS in the caliphate. As chairman of Foreign Affairs, I saw Afghanistan fall and Putin invade Ukraine, and the Middle East on fire, and then the threat from Chairman Xi and China and the Indo-Pacific,” McCaul said.
Rep. Brian Mast, the Florida Republican who now serves as chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee, thanked McCaul in a statement on X “for being a great leader in the U.S. House” and “for setting the example of how to be a diplomat and statesman”.
Rep. Mike Lawler, a New York Republican who is also a member of the Foreign Affairs Committee, called McCaul his “mentor and friend” and said he is a “tremendous leader protecting America at home and abroad” in a post on X.
McCaul’s announcement comes at a time when a number of Representatives are leaving their seats at the end of the term to seek other offices, primarily in the U.S. Senate and at the gubernatorial level.
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