House Budget Committee Chairman Jodey Arrington (R-Texas) announced Tuesday that he will not seek reelection in 2026, and will depart Congress after a decade.
“I have 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,” Arrington told Fox News.
Arrington played a key role in helping craft and usher through the House the “One Big Beautiful Bill” of President Trump’s tax cut and spending priorities.
“It was a very unique, generational impact opportunity, to be almost ten years into this and to have the budget chairmanship, and to lead the charge to successfully pass that and to help this president fulfill his mandate from the people,” Arrington told Fox. “It just seems like a good and right place to leave it.”
Arrington is so far the only House GOP chairman to announce their departure from Congress after 2026. He leaves a safe Republican district.
He was known in Congress for being a staunch fiscal hawk who aimed to lower the national debt and deficit.
Arrington’s announcement that he will not seek reelection comes just a week after President Trump endorsed Arrington for reelection in a post on Truth Social, saying, “HE WILL NEVER LET YOU DOWN!”
