At least 14 congressional committee leaders, nine chairs and five ranking members, will not return to their posts when the 120th Congress convenes in January, no matter who wins on Nov. 3.
But the members aren’t the only ones leaving Congress after this election. Their staffers are leaving with them. At least 1,430 staffers work for departing members in Washington and back home, including 87 chiefs of staff and 78 legislative directors. Some will follow their bosses out. Many will be looking for their next role in another office or outside Congress altogether. They are experienced, they know your issues, and the reshuffling has already started.
The committee members and their staff are all part of a massive wave of turnover: at least 18% of the members who have served in this Congress will not be back in 2027. In the House, 74 members will not be back next year, according to Pew Research Center: 42 Republicans and 32 Democrats leaving through retirements, runs for other offices, primary losses, and vacancies. In the Senate, 13 of the 35 seats on the ballot will have no incumbent in November, according to Decision Desk HQ.
For government affairs professionals, that means two benches to watch. The first bench is the staff leaving with departing members. The other bench is the staffers arriving with new leaders. When a new chair or ranking member takes over a committee, they usually bring their own staff director and senior aides. The committee teams your organization spent years getting to know are about to change hands.
Who is retiring from Congress?
Eight committee leaders are retiring from the House and the Senate when their terms end Jan. 3, 2027.
Retiring in the House
Jodey Arrington (R-TX), Budget (HBC) Chair. His exit leaves the committee that would steer any party-line reconciliation bill looking for a new chair.
Sam Graves (R-MO), Transportation and Infrastructure (T&I) Chair. A House member since 2001, he leaves with a surface transportation reauthorization still unfinished.
Nydia Velázquez (D-NY), Small Business Ranking Member. The first Puerto Rican woman elected to Congress, she has been the top Democrat on Small Business for years.
Retiring in the Senate
Mitch McConnell (R-KY), Rules and Administration Chair. The longest-serving Senate party leader in history closes out four decades in the chamber.
Joni Ernst (R-IA), Small Business and Entrepreneurship Chair. With Velázquez also retiring, Small Business loses a top leader in both chambers.
Dick Durbin (D-IL), Judiciary (SJC) Ranking Member. The Senate’s No. 2 Democrat leaves Judiciary, which will also lose its chair to term limits. The committee will have new leaders on both sides of the aisle next year.
Gary Peters (D-MI), Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs (HSGAC) Ranking Member. After two Senate terms, he leaves the committee that oversees federal agencies and cybersecurity.
Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), Foreign Relations Ranking Member. The first woman elected both governor and U.S. senator leaves the Senate’s top Democratic foreign policy post.
Term-limited departures
Four more chairs are stepping down from their posts but staying in Congress. House and Senate Republican conference rules cap how long a member can lead a committee: three terms as chair or ranking member in the House, and six years as chair in the Senate.
All four have hit that limit and are not seeking waivers, so they hand off their committees in January. Three are in the House, and one is in the Senate. Both Judiciary chairs are among them.
Jim Jordan (R-OH), Judiciary (HJC) Chair. A founder of the House Freedom Caucus, he steps down as chair of the committee that handles immigration, antitrust, and federal law enforcement.
Chuck Grassley (R-IA), Judiciary (SJC) Chair. The Senate’s president pro tempore and longest-serving Republican senator in history gives up the chairmanship of the committee that vets federal judicial nominees.
James Comer (R-KY), Oversight and Government Reform Chair. He hands off the House’s main investigative committee, which can subpoena federal agencies and set the oversight agenda.
Mike Bost (R-IL), Veterans’ Affairs (HVAC) Chair. A Marine Corps veteran, he relinquishes the top spot on the committee that oversees the VA’s health system and benefits programs.
Decided in the voting booth
Two more committee leaders lost their primaries this year, one running for a promotion and one defending his seat. Both leave Congress on Jan. 3.
Angie Craig (D-MN), Agriculture Ranking Member. She gave up her House seat to run for the seat Sen. Tina Smith (D-MN) is vacating, then lost the August primary, leaving the committee’s top Democratic spot open as the farm bill heads into the lame-duck session.
Bill Cassidy (R-LA), Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Chair. A physician, he lost his Louisiana Republican primary in May, so the committee that writes federal health, education, and labor policy will have a new chair.
Who else is on the bubble?
The list of departing committee leaders is likely to grow after Nov. 3. As of this writing, three more Republican chairs are at their party’s term limit: House Agriculture Chair Glenn “GT” Thompson (R-PA), Armed Services (HASC) Chair Mike Rogers (R-AL), and Natural Resources Chair Bruce Westerman (R-AR). Thompson and Rogers have asked for waivers. Westerman has not said whether he will. Without waivers, those chairmanships open too.
Two more committee leaders face competitive races: House Administration (CHA) Chair Bryan Steil (R-WI) and Senate Appropriations (SAC) Chair Susan Collins (R-ME). Neither is guaranteed to lose; neither is guaranteed to return either. A loss by either would open another committee leadership post.
Senate Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry Ranking Member Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) is also on the Nov. 3 ballot as the Democratic nominee for Minnesota governor. If she wins, she leaves the Senate and the committee’s top Democratic post.
Every opening sets off a chain reaction. The next senior member often gives up a top spot on another committee to claim it, so one vacancy can reshuffle several committees even if neither chamber flips. If a chamber does flip, every chair and ranking member could trade titles, and committee staff could turn over with them.
Follow the reshuffle in real time
For government affairs teams, the next 10 weeks matter as much as election night. Congress returns Nov. 9, and party leadership elections begin that week. Committee leadership posts are usually settled in the weeks that follow, and new chairs start building their teams well before the 120th Congress convenes Jan. 3, 2027.
Start with the committees your issues run through: set an alert to be notified any time the leader or members change. Then look past the members to the staff directors, legislative directors, and issue leads who do the daily work. Some will be free agents. Others will be new faces.
Election results will tell you who controls Congress. They will not tell you who’s moving, where they are landing, or who’s replacing them. Access Leadership Connect to see the staff behind every departing member today and follow the new committee teams as they are named.
Staff counts: Leadership Connect data as of Oct. 29, 2026.
Sources:
Decision Desk HQ, Sept. 21, 2026
Pew Research Center, Sept. 16, 2026
