GOP lawmaker adheres to term limit pledge, won’t run for reelection

Rep. Trey Hollingsworth (R-Ind.) announced Wednesday that he will not run for reelection this year to uphold a past pledge to serve no more than four terms in the House.

Hollingsworth will be leaving the lower chamber, where he has served since 2017, after only his third term.

“I want to be the change I want to see in this world, so, as I contemplate how I can work for you in new and better ways in the future, I won’t run for reelection this year,” Hollingsworth wrote in an editorial published in the IndyStar.

Hollingsworth argued that Washington dysfunction is fueled by “career politicians” who prioritize their career ambitions and called for measures including term limits and lobbying bans.

“I ran for Congress to return this government to the people from the career politicians who had broken it, and I will be damned if I become one in the process. I hope Hoosiers will replace their Congressman with someone with a similar attitude. Voters in America should, too,” he wrote.

“We need to compel our representatives to work to better their constituents rather than better themselves or their careers,” he added.

Hollingsworth is the 14th GOP lawmaker to decide against seeking another term in the House next year.

Two of those Republicans, now-former Reps. Steve Stivers (Ohio) and Devin Nunes (Calif.), resigned to take jobs in the private sector. And seven of the other Republicans leaving the House are running for other elected offices.

A total of 26 House Democrats, meanwhile, are not seeking reelection.

Republicans are favored to win the House in the November elections, given how the incumbent president’s party tends to lose congressional seats in midterm cycles. The GOP only needs to flip five seats to win the House majority.

Hollingsworth was one of 35 House Republicans who voted with Democrats last May to establish an independent bipartisan commission to investigate the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol.

After Republicans blocked that bill in the Senate, House Democrats created a select committee to conduct an investigation of the day’s events instead.