Representative Michael McCaul said Sunday that he will not run for re-election in 2026 and will leave Congress at the end of his current term in 2027, a decision that removes one of the House GOP’s most experienced national‑security voices. Speaking on ABC’s This Week, the Texas lawmaker framed his retirement as a pivot toward new work in the national security and foreign‑policy arena that drew him into public life decades ago.

“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. I am ready for a new challenge in 2027 and look forward to continuing to serve my country in the national security and foreign policy realm,” McCaul said on air.

McCaul’s exit will create an open House seat in a reliably Republican district and prompt an early scramble among state and national operatives. The congressman has long been counted among Capitol Hill’s institutionalists on foreign policy, having previously chaired both the House Committee on Homeland Security and the House Committee on Foreign Affairs. He has been an outspoken critic of Russian aggression in Ukraine, denouncing reported mass abductions of Ukrainian children as “horrific” and “just evil,” and he has pressed the executive branch to take a tough line on migration and law enforcement priorities.

In recent weeks, McCaul urged the Trump administration to prioritize detention of what he called “aggravated felons” among undocumented migrants, signaling continued efforts to link immigration policy to national security concerns. Those positions have made him a prominent figure in Republican debates over border enforcement, counterterrorism, and the U.S. posture toward great‑power competition.

Political analysts said McCaul’s departure is noteworthy not only because of the loss of experience but because it comes as Washington confronts multiple foreign challenges that have relied on congressional knowledge and relationships. “Members like McCaul are repositories of expertise — institutional memory that is hard to replace,” said a former congressional staffer who tracks national security staffing in both parties. “When someone who has chaired two major committees leaves, there’s a ripple effect on oversight, legislation and the relationships with allies.”

The timing also places pressure on House GOP committees to groom new leadership on sensitive issues involving intelligence, counterterrorism and diplomacy. McCaul’s likely successor in committee roles would be chosen through internal GOP processes that could reshape the party’s oversight priorities in the next Congress.

McCaul’s announcement avoids an immediate partisan battle over his seat, since he will serve out the remainder of his term. But it launches what observers expect to be a competitive Republican primary in 2026 as potential candidates vie to succeed a lawmaker whose tenure has intersected with major post‑9/11 security debates, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the recent crises in Ukraine and the Middle East.

As McCaul steps back from electoral politics, he signaled an intention to remain active on international matters outside the Capitol, a common trajectory for senior lawmakers with deep foreign‑policy résumés. Whether he joins an administration, a think tank, or the private sector, his decision underscores how individual retirements can recalibrate Washington’s foreign‑policy choreography at moments when global tensions are on the rise.