Representative Michael McCaul, the Texas Republican who has reportedly spent two decades positioning himself as one of Congress’s most consistent voices on national security, announced Sunday that he will not seek re-election in 2026.
McCaul, 63, told ABC News that after more than twenty years in the House, he is ready for what he called a “new challenge.” “It’s been an honor to serve for over two decades in the Congress,” he said on This Week with Martha Raddatz. “I’m going to serve the remainder of my term. But I’m looking for a new challenge in the same space that would be national security, foreign policy, but just in a different realm.”
First elected in 2004, McCaul has represented Texas’s 10th Congressional District, a stretch of central Texas running from the Houston suburbs to Austin.
In his tenure, he developed a reputation as a hawk on foreign threats and chaired two of the House’s most powerful panels: Homeland Security, from 2013 to 2019, and Foreign Affairs, from January 2023 until earlier this year.
The congressman’s career has been shaped by crises abroad and debates at home over America’s role in global security.
Reflecting on his service, McCaul recalled the emergence of ISIS, the chaotic U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, unrest in the Middle East, and, more recently, “the threat from Chairman Xi [Jinping] and China in the Indo-Pacific.”
These challenges, he suggested, have only underscored the need for a strong, steady hand in Washington.
McCaul has never shied away from the political realities of representing a diverse and rapidly changing district. He survived ten re-election campaigns, often by commanding margins.
His closest race came in 2018, when he defeated Democrat Mike Siegel with 51.1 percent of the vote to Siegel’s 46.8 percent—a narrow escape during a midterm year that heavily favored Democrats.
The victory solidified McCaul’s ability to fend off well-financed challengers while maintaining his conservative brand.
On Sunday, McCaul made clear he has not yet decided what will follow his time in Congress. But he left little doubt that he intends to remain engaged in the arena that has defined his public life. “I’m looking now for a new challenge,” he said, reiterating his focus on national security and foreign affairs.
In a statement posted to X, McCaul cast his career as an extension of his family’s legacy of service. “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,” he wrote. “It has been the honor of a lifetime to represent the people of central Texas and to chair the prestigious Homeland Security and Foreign Affairs Committees.”
McCaul’s decision opens a rare vacancy in a district Republicans have held securely for two decades. But for conservatives, his departure also marks the end of an era in which McCaul emerged as one of the GOP’s most reliable voices for strength abroad and vigilance at home.
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