Rep. Mac Thornberry (R-TX) announced his retirement Monday morning, saying that “the time has come for a change.”
“With over a year to go, I will continue to represent the people of the 13th District to the best of my ability,” he said in a statement. “Our nation faces many difficult challenges, and none of us can relax our efforts to meet and overcome them, whether at home or around the world.”
Thornberry is the sixth Republican congressman representing Texas to retire before 2020. However, whereas some, like Rep. Will Hurd (R-TX), are abandoning increasingly blue districts, Thornberry is leaving a seat open in a ruby-red, safe Republican hold. The 13th district went for President Donald Trump in 2016 by a whopping 80 percent, per the Cook Political Report.
Thornberry follows the lead of GOP Texan Representatives Hurd, Kenny Marchant, Pete Olson, Mike Conaway and Bill Flores.
