Kenny Marchant is the fourth Texas Republican to decide against running again in 2020 and the 11th House Republican to announce retirement. | Charles Dharapak, File/AP Photo congress Marchant becomes latest Texas Republican to retire from Congress

Rep. Kenny Marchant announced Monday he will not seek reelection next year, adding another member to the rapidly growing House GOP retirement list and opening a newly competitive Dallas-area seat.

“It is time for me to announce that I will not seek another term as congressman from the 24th District of Texas," Marchant said in a statement. "I am looking forward to finishing out my term and then returning to Texas to start a new chapter."


Marchant's seat is a top target for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, which plans to invest in flipping a slate of Texas seats occupied by Republicans that have rapidly shifted to the left in recent years. Marchant won reelection last year by only 3 percentage points against a Democratic candidate who spent only $96,000 for the entire cycle.

President Donald Trump carried Marchant's seat by 6 percentage points in 2016, but his margin was much smaller than 2012 Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney's 22-point win there four years earlier.

“For the last 40 years, I have served my fellow North Texans, starting in local government as the Mayor and as a city council member of Carrollton, then to Austin as a 9-term State Representative, and then on to serving today in Washington, D.C.," Marchant said. "What a wonderful opportunity it has been to serve them, and I want to thank them for trusting in me."

Marchant, first elected in 2004, is the fourth Texas Republican to decide against running again in 2020 and the 11th House Republican to announce retirement. The New York Times first reported Marchant's plans to leave Congress.

Air Force veteran Kim Olson, the Democratic nominee for state agriculture commissioner last year, announced her candidacy for the seat in June. Jan McDowell, a Democrat who lost to Marchant in 2018, is also running.

Rep. Tom Emmer (R-Minn.), the chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee, pledged to "do everything in our power to keep [Olson] from getting anywhere near Congress."

“Simply put, this is a Republican seat and will remain a Republican seat in 2020," Emmer said in a statement.

But Rep. Cheri Bustos (D-Ill.), who chairs the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, linked Marchant's retirement to two other vulnerable Texas Republicans who decided in recent weeks not to run again in 2020: Reps. Pete Olson and Will Hurd.

"Congressman Marchant’s retirement comes just four months after the DCCC responded to the energy on the ground in Texas and opened an office there, placed six senior staffers on the ground, and deployed organizers in key communities across the state to lay the groundwork for victory next year," Bustos said. "Clearly that investment is already paying off, and Democrats are well positioned to compete and flip more seats in Texas.”

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