Texas Republican Rep. Troy Nehls announced he’s retiring from Congress, joining a growing list of Donald Trump’s allies who are stepping down.
In a social media post Saturday, Nehls explained that he decided to “focus on my family and return home after this Congress” following conversations with his wife and daughters over the Thanksgiving holiday.
Nehls has represented Texas’s 22nd congressional district since 2021. He’s been an outspoken supporter of the president, serving as a major advocate of his immigration agenda. He’s also pushed for legislation to honor the president, cosponsoring a bill requiring $100 bills to include a portrait of Trump and another renaming Washington Dulles International Airport after Trump.
“Before making this decision, I called President Trump personally to let him know of my plans. President Trump has always been a strong ally for our district and a true friend, and I wanted him to hear it from me first,” he wrote.
“Serving this country in the military, serving our community in law enforcement, and serving this district in Congress has been the honor of my life. Thank you for your trust, your friendship, and your prayers.”
Nehls is one of 47 Congress members — 20 Democrats and 27 Republicans — who have opted against seeking reelection, according to The Hill.
Nehls’ announcement comes just over a week after Georgia Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene announced she would prematurely exit Congress. Greene, once a fierce ally to the president, has broken with Trump and her own party on several significant issues in recent months, including the war in Gaza, health care subsidies, and the handling of the Epstein Files.
Her split from Trump on the Epstein Files earlier this month led him to call her a “traitor,” a monumental shift from the man who once described Greene as a “real winner.” Her last day in Congress is January 5.
“Standing up for American women who were raped at 14, trafficked and used by rich, powerful men, should not result in me being called a traitor and threatened by the president of the United States, whom I fought for,” Greene said in her resignation statement.
Nebraska Republican Don Bacon, who has been critical of Trump over his proposal to end Russia’s war in Ukraine, announced in June that he doesn’t plan to seek re-election.
Like Nehls, Bacon said he plans on focusing on his family. “After three decades in the Air Force and now going on one decade in Congress, I look forward to coming home in the evenings and being with my wife and seeing more of our adult children and eight grandchildren, who all live near my home,” he said.
Rep. Jodey Arrington, a Texas Republican lawmaker who sponsored Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill” and earned the president’s endorsement for re-election in 2026, also announced this month that he plans to retire.
“It was my highest privilege to author and lead President Trump’s ‘One Big Beautiful Bill,’ the principal legislative vehicle for advancing the America First Agenda, which included the largest tax and spending cuts, largest single investment in national and border security, and most significant welfare reforms in U.S. history,” Arrington said in a statement.
Other Trump allies — such as Reps. Elise Stefanik of New York, Nancy Mace of South Carolina and Andy Biggs of Arizona — have decided to ditch Congressional re-election bids and instead launched gubernatorial campaigns.
Trump will also lose other allies in the upper chamber, as Senators Mitch McConnell, Joni Ernst, and Thom Tillis have announced they don’t plan to seek re-election.
