GOP Congresswoman Announces Retirement, Says 'D.C. Is Broken'

Rep. Debbie Lesko (R-Ariz.) announced on Tuesday that she will retire at the end of her term in January 2025. 

In a statement posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, the three-term lawmaker said that she would not seek reelection in 2024 because she wants to spend more time with her family.

“I want to spend more time with my husband, my 94-year-old mother, my three children, and my five grandchildren,” she wrote. “Spending, on average, three weeks out of every month away from my family, and traveling back and forth to Washington, D.C. almost every weekend is difficult.”

Lesko’s statement also cited issues with the way Congress is currently operating. The House has been at a standstill for weeks ever since former Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) was shockingly ousted from the job earlier this month. With no speaker, the chamber has been unable to perform routine tasks such as voting on a resolution to support Israel, a U.S. ally, amid its ongoing war with Hamas .

Lesko’s retirement announcement landed on the same day the House of Representatives failed once again to elect a new speaker .

“Right now, Washington, D.C. is broken; it is hard to get anything done,” she wrote.

Lesko has represented a red district in Arizona since 2018 and has won reelection comfortably, according to Politico . She promised to continue working to “improve Congress” and help her constituents and the American people until the end of her term.