Rep. Kenny Marchant of Texas announced Monday that he will retire from Congress, becoming the fourth Republican from Texas to announce that they won’t seek reelection in 2020.
House Republicans have seen a recent string of retirements as the 2020 election looms — not entirely surprising as the GOP is now in the minority, but still a hurdle for the party seeking to retake control of the House. Marchant is the ninth House Republican to announce that they won’t run again in 2020.
“I am looking forward to finishing out my term and then returning to Texas to start a new chapter,” Marchant said in a statement issued Monday.
“For the last 40 years, I have served my fellow North Texans, starting in local government as the Mayor and as a city council member of Carrollton, then to Austin as a 9-term State Representative, and then on to serving today in Washington, DC,” Marchant said.
Elected to Congress in 2004, Marchant is a founding member of the House Tea Party Caucus, and also served on the influential Ways and Means Committee and the Ethics Committee. Before launching his career in Washington, Marchant spent nearly two decades as a representative in the Texas House.
Marchant represents Texas’ 24th Congressional District, which covers the suburbs of Fort Worth and Dallas. While it’s a historically red district, last year Marchant won reelection by three points.
CNN’s Clare Foran and Ashley Killough contributed to this report.
