For a third straight month, the number of members of Congress who have announced retirement so far this year is 53

By

Briana Ryan

Fifty-three members of Congress—eight senators and 45 representatives—have announced they will not seek re-election this year.

That’s the same number that was reported in our July 15 update on congressional incumbents not seeking re-election. Since then, there have been no new retirement announcements. The last incumbent to announce their retirement was Rep. Garret Graves (R-La.) on June 14.

However, since our July 15 update two incumbents have either left office early or announced resignations. Sen. Bob Menendez Sr. (D-N.J.) announced on July 23 that he would resign from the U.S. Senate effective August 20. For more on our coverage of Menendez’s resignation, click here. Additionally, Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas) died on July 19 after being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. Ballotpedia does not include incumbents leaving office early in our analysis of incumbents not running for re-election.

Congressional retirements by year

In 2018, 55 incumbents retired from Congress. In the two election years following 2018, the total number of retirements decreased to 40 in 2020, then increased to 55 in 2022. An average of 38.68 members retired from Congress each election year between 1930 and 2022.

Congressional retirements by month

Between January 2011 and August 2024, Ballotpedia tracked 354 announcements from members of the U.S. House and Senate who announced they would not run for re-election. If we look at this data by month, January had the highest number of announcements of any month at 67, while June had the fewest at 12.

Now, let’s take a look at the announcements by month and by whether it was made in an election year or on an off year:

  • January had the highest number of announcements during an election year at 47, while September had the fewest at zero.
  • November had the highest number of announcements during an off year at 41, while June had the fewest at nine.

2024 U.S. House retirements

In the House, 45 incumbents are not seeking re-election this year. Between 1930 and 2022, there was an average of 33.28 House retirements each election year.

Looking at all representatives who are not seeking re-election in 2024:

  • 12—three Republicans and nine Democrats—are running for the U.S. Senate.
  • Two—one Democrat and one Republican—are running for state attorney general.
  • Two—one Democrat and one Republican—are running for governor.
  • One Democrat ran for President of the United States.
  • 28—12 Democrats and 16 Republicans—are retiring from public office.

When comparing the 45 House retirements to the last three cycles, there were 49 House retirements in 2022, 36 in 2020, and 52 in 2018.

2024 U.S. Senate retirements

On the Senate side, eight incumbents are not seeking re-election this year. Between 1930 and 2022, there was an average of 5.4 Senate retirements each election year.

The eight senators who are not seeking re-election are:

The number of senators not running for re-election this year is higher than the three previous election years. Six senators did not seek re-election in 2022, four didn’t in 2020, and three didn’t in 2018.