House Budget Committee chairman announces he won't seek re-election in 2026

Jodey Arrington, chairman of the House Budget Committee, announced that he will not seek re-election in 2026. The Republican from Texas communicated his decision through a video, posted on his social media. He argued that public service should be a "temporary period of management, not a career."

Arrington, now 53, previously worked for George W. Bush in both the Texas governorship and the White House. He also served as vice chancellor of the Texas Tech University System and later president of a health care company in the city of Lubbock.

He came to Congress in 2016 and since then focused on fiscal and budgetary issues, which eventually led him to chair the Budget Committee since January 2023. In addition, he was responsible for introducing in the House the 'Big Beautiful Bill', the President Donald Trump’s flagship legislation since his return to the White House.

In the video, he claimed that having served the people of the 19th District of Texas in Washington was the greatest honor of his life, and that he always sought to work with leaving a freer and stronger country for his children in mind.

"I'm from a rural district and I can tell you, raising the profile among urban and suburban members as to the unique challenges of rural America and the unique contributions of rural America — like food security and energy independence and how much the nation depends on these plow boys and cowboys in rural areas — that's another thing I'm proud of," Arrington said.

"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. It just seems like a good and right place to leave it," he added.

Among his accomplishments, he noted the return of cotton in the Farm Bill, major investments in his district, new business arrangements and most notably the renaming of the Ports-to-Plains Expressway to Interstate 27 (I-27). This improved connectivity and opened the door to billions of dollars in federal and state investment.

In addition, the Texas congressman said he has faith that Republicans in Washington will take up the fiscal austerity agenda, defying what he called the "curse" of public debt.

"The president's committed to it, he talks about it all the time. He's actually doing something about it with very difficult decisions, not politically popular decisions. This is all about political will. Trump's doing it. Mike Johnson is committed to it. And we have a growing number of fiscal hawks who are absolutely dogged on this issue," he finished.