Top House committee chairman reveals he won't seek re-election in 2026

By Fox News · Fox News

FIRST ON FOX: House Budget Committee Chairman Jodey Arrington, R-Texas, will not seek re-election in 2026. The senior Republican lawmaker will have finished serving a decade in Congress when he leaves at the end of next year. "I have 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," Arrington said. And the conservative Texan told Fox News Digital he felt he was leaving on a high note, having played a key role in crafting President Donald Trump's big, beautiful bill. DOUBLE-EDGED SWORD OF TRUMP CUT NEW JERSEY REPUBLICANS DOWN TO SIZE "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," Arrington said. "It just seems like a good and right place to leave it." He cited multiple legislative items across his tenure as Budget Committee chair when asked what he took pride in, but added, "It's more of changing the narrative and the culture in Congress and in my party that I'm most proud of." "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," he said. Arrington said he had faith Republicans in Washington would pick up his mantle of fiscal hawkishness, or as he's often called it, "reversing 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," Arrington said. "Trump's doing it. Mike Johnson is com…