On paper, Republican lawmakers should be in a great place as they finish their first year in the majority under President Donald Trump’s second term: They were able to pass a sweeping reconciliation bill with few defections, they didn’t give in to any Democratic demands to end the government shutdown, and Democrats continue to fight amongst themselves over messaging.
But as 2025 comes to a close, there’s just one problem: They can’t stand each other.
A growing number of lawmakers are announcing they’re leaving the House, either to fully retire or to seek different offices, in part because of the incredibly low morale in the chamber. So far, of the 39 members who announced they will not be seeking reelection, 23 are Republicans.
Republican Rep. Victoria Spartz told NOTUS that Congress “is a broken institution,” so it’s no wonder her colleagues are choosing to leave.
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The House is “no science and politics, just drama and theater … and a lot of perverse incentives for people to govern and do politics,” Spartz added. “Of course people get burned out and frustrated, but hopefully we’ll be able to get back on track.”
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But rank-and-file Republicans are increasingly frustrated with their leadership — and much of that frustration is spilling out into the open.
The tension between GOP members and House Republican leadership has been brewing for a while, but it was especially evident in Tuesday’s closed-door conference meeting.
At one point, Rep. Byron Donalds and House Majority Leader Steve Scalise had a back-and-forth about the SCORE Act, a bipartisan college-sports bill expected to get a vote this week. Donalds told Scalise that “we shouldn’t bail out the NCAA and colleges for the mess they created,” according to a source in the room.
Some lawmakers also scoffed at several of Speaker Mike Johnson’s talking points. Johnson told members at the meeting that he expects Republicans to not only retain the majority in 2026, but expand it, another source said.
“And I believed I was going to date the prom queen,” one senior House Republican, granted anonymity to speak candidly, quipped to NOTUS.
The private sniping is somewhat normal, but now some Republicans are also publicly airing out their grievances. To wit: Rep. Elise Stefanik, who serves in leadership, went after Johnson on social media over concerns that a provision she has championed would not be added to the annual defense policy bill.
“This is an easy one. This bill is DOA unless this provision gets added in,” Stefanik said on X, adding that Johnson himself was blocking the bill. Johnson reportedly said the accusations are false, to which Stefanik replied by suggesting he is lying.
When Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene shocked Washington by announcing her sudden retirement, she complained that Congress “has been mostly sidelined” and that as midterm campaign season starts, “all courage leaves and only safe campaign re-election mode is turned on.”
She then took a parting shot at Johnson.
“My bills which reflect many of President Trump’s executive orders … just sit collecting dust. That’s how it is for most members of Congress’s bills, the Speaker never brings them to the floor for a vote,” Greene added.
An October Gallup poll found that the public’s approval of Congress has sunk to just 15%, an 11-percentage-point drop from September’s numbers. Rep. Kevin Kiley told NOTUS there’s “good reason” for those low marks.
Between Johnson keeping the House out of session during the shutdown, the looming expiration of Affordable Care Act subsidies, the upcoming January appropriations fight, the back-and-forth censure wars and the ongoing discharge petitions to circumvent Johnson, “there’s plenty of blame to go around” for Congress’ “dysfunction,” Kiley said.
As for the infighting, it’s “natural in the body of 200-plus elected officials, but,” he added, “I do think that, you know, there are some factors that have made it more severe than normal” and that “have left a lot of members feeling like their capacity to fight for their constituents is being diminished.”
A second senior House Republican told NOTUS that it’s more difficult to get things done in Congress because there’s a growing number of “celebrity members.” (As examples of “celebrity members,” the lawmaker mentioned former Reps. Katherine Harris and Michele Bachmann, though they declined to name current members they thought fit the bill.)
“It’s always been the case, in life and in Congress, that it’s a roughly a small amount of people that behind the scenes are getting most things done,” the lawmaker said. “And there’s always been the case that there’s always a small group of folks who are out here being celebrities. What is different now is that the group of people who get things done is now smaller and the group of celebrities is now bigger.”
Amid the chaos, however, some lawmakers say that this is the nature of the beast — and those seeking congressional office should get used to it.
Rep. Anna Paulina Luna told NOTUS she is frustrated by how “legislation works here” and how it’s become more normal to seek discharge petitions when Johnson refuses to bring bills to the floor.
But, she added, “you just have to know the rules if you want to play the game, and I know the rules very good, so I’m good at playing the game.”
Moments later, Luna filed a discharge petition on a bill to ban members of Congress from trading stocks.
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