Texas Rep. Michael McCaul announced over the weekend that he won’t run for reelection.
McCaul, the top Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee from 2019 until the start of 2025, had to vacate the position because of the chamber’s term limit on it.
“It has been the honor of a lifetime to represent the people of central Texas and to chair the prestigious Homeland Security and Foreign Affairs Committees,” McCaul said in a statement yesterday announcing he would not run again in 2026.
“My father’s service in World War II inspired me to pursue a life of public service, with a focus on defending our great nation against global threats, and I have been proud to carry out that mission in Congress for more than two decades.”
The news of McCaul’s retirement comes as a shock to the Republican Party. But it’s his parting words that left many voters rattled.
During an interview with ABC’s “This Week” yesterday that coincided with his retirement announcement, McCaul gave his bleak outlook on the state of the world — warning the world could very well be on the brink of World War III.
“We’ve never seen anything like this in recent times. And so, what I’m concerned about is that the escalation here and the temperature rising, we got to be very careful not to be on the precipice of a World War III,” he said.
McCaul’s eerie warning was in large part in reference Russia’s recent deployment of 19 drones into Poland’s airspace last week.
President Trump suggested the move may have been a mistake, but McCaul openly dismissed that notion.
“With all deference to the president, I don’t think that was a mistake. I think Putin is testing the resolve of NATO,” McCaul said.
Take a listen to McCaul’s entire interview:
Since Russia began its invasion of Ukraine in 2022, McCaul has remained a staunch supporter of Ukraine.
On Sunday, he openly cast doubt on Russian strongman Vladimir Putin’s sincerity during peace talks with Trump in Alaska last month.
“I never had any good faith anticipation of these negotiations. Putin is a KGB once and always,” McCaul said.
“I think he’s manipulating the president, as a KGB officer would.”
He stressed that he’s hopeful that Trump is “waking up to the fact that Putin is not negotiating in good faith.”
In addition to being a leading GOP voice on foreign policy, McCaul also served as the top Republican on the House Homeland Security Committee from 2013 to 2019.
For most of his tenure, McCaul breezed to victory during his 10 re-election bids.
His closest race came in the 2018 blue-wave year, when he won by 51.1% of the vote to Democrat Mike Siegel’s 46.8%.
McCaul has represented Texas’s 10th District since 2005.