House Budget Chairman Jodey Arrington Will Not Seek Reelection

Arrington represents one of the most conservative House districts in Texas, and thus in the United States.

House Budget Committee Chairman Rep. Jodey Arrington (R-Texas) arrives for a committee meeting in the Cannon House Office Building in Washington on Feb. 13, 2025. Kent Nishimura/Getty Images

U.S. Rep. Jodey Arrington (R-Texas), the chairman of the U.S. House of Representatives’s Budget Committee, announced on Nov. 11 that he would not seek reelection in 2026 and retire from Congress in 2027.

Arrington has represented Texas’s 19th Congressional District, which includes the cities of Lubbock and Abeline, since 2017. In that time, he rose to become the House Budget Committee’s chairman, taking that office in 2023. He has since been intimately involved in the negotiation of budget bills, including the One Big Beautiful Bill Act signed by President Donald Trump on July 4.

“I have always had 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,” wrote Arrington on social media, commenting on his retirement. He also posted a video explaining the reasons for his retirement.

Arrington’s departure means that an open primary contest will be held for the Republican nomination in the district, which is very conservative. The district has a Cook Partisan Voting Index score of R+25.

The decision to retire comes shortly after Trump endorsed Arrington for reelection, which increased his likelihood of winning the Republican primary. The primary is expected to be crowded and competitive, as Texas is the largest Republican-led state in the country, with many national GOP figures emerging from there.

Several members of the House announced their retirement from Congress after the 2026 congressional election, with the most prominent being former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.). Some senators have also announced their retirement.

In past electoral cycles, such elections in the middle of a four-year presidential term usually result in losses for the incumbent party, leading many vulnerable incumbents to retire to avoid losing an election, and senior members to retire to avoid several years in the minority, which, in the House, entails very little power.

Arrington’s colleagues in the House Democratic Caucus spoke approvingly of his career upon the news.

“Congratulations to my friend Jodey Arrington,” U.S. Rep. Brendan Boyle (D-Pa.), the ranking member of the Budget Committee, wrote on social media. “He and I have always agreed the Budget Committee should be a place of civility & seriousness. Even when we’ve disagreed strongly, we’ve kept to that spirit. I know Jodey is happy to return to his beautiful family & beloved West Texas.”