Texas Rep. McCaul Announces He Will Not Run for Reelection Next Year

‘I’m looking now for a new challenge,’ he said.

U.S. Representative Michael McCaul (R-Texas) on Capitol Hill in Washington on Oct. 11, 2023. Kevin Lamarque/Reuters

Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas) announced during a Sept. 14 interview on ABC “This Week” that he will not run for reelection next year.

McCaul, 63, said in the interview that he plans to serve out the remainder of his term before pursuing new opportunities. He was first elected to Congress in 2004 and is currently serving his 11th term.

“It’s been an honor to serve for over two decades in the Congress. I’m looking now for a new challenge,” the Congressman said.

“I want to continue to serve the people of 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,” he added.

McCaul represents Texas’s 10th Congressional District, spanning from Lake Travis to the Brazos Valley. He had previously served as chair of both the House Foreign Affairs Committee and Homeland Security Committee, according to his biography.

In the interview, McCaul reflected on his experiences, noting that he had served as a counterterrorism federal prosecutor at the Justice Department and witnessed the rise of ISIS, the U.S. military withdrawal from Afghanistan, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and the growing threat of communist China in the Indo-Pacific region.

“My father’s service in World War II inspired me to pursue a life of public service, with a focus on defending our great nation against global threats, and I have been proud to carry out that mission in Congress for more than two decades,” the Congressman stated on X.

McCaul did not elaborate on how he intends to pursue his interest in national security and foreign policy after his term ends.

Florida Rep. Brian Mast, the current chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, thanked McCaul for his leadership in the committee.

“Thank you @RepMcCaul for being a great leader in the U.S. House, for your time as chairman of the Homeland Security Committee, and for setting the example of how to be a diplomat and statesman for the greatest country ever established, while chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee,” Mast stated on X.

McCaul’s comments came just days after Rep. Morgan Luttrell (R-Texas), who represents Texas’s 8th Congressional District, announced on Sept. 12 that he too, would not seek reelection next year.

Luttrell, now in his second term, said he was “choosing a different path,” one that would allow him “to stay rooted in Texas and focus on the people and places that matter most.”

“Serving Texans in Congress has been the honor of a lifetime, and I will continue to do that until the end of my term. And while I may be stepping back from public office at the end of 2026, I’m not stepping out of the arena,” he stated on X.