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All four Black Republicans currently serving in the U.S. House of Representatives are leaving Congress later this year, leaving the GOP without any Black members in the next term
According to a report by The New York Times, Reps. Wesley Hunt (Texas), John James (Michigan), Byron Donalds (Florida), and Burgess Owens (Utah) will not be seeking re-election in Congress, each for their own reasons.
Hunt ran for the U.S. Senate in the Republican primary on March 3, 2026, but was ultimately defeated by incumbent John Cornyn and Rep. Ken Paxton, who took the race to a runoff scheduled for May 2026.
Both James and Donalds are both running for governor, while Owens chose not to seek re-election after redistricting s created a Democratic-leaning seat, per The Times.
All four representatives were originally recruited to Congress as part of an effort led by former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy to diversify the GOP following Democrats’ 2018 House gains. “The more diverse the party is, the more opportunity we have,” he said in an interview, per The Times. “You want to expand the opportunity for more people to come in.”
Donalds was first elected in 2020, Owens in 2021, and Hunt and James in 2022. After his election, Hunt heralded his victory as evidence against Democratic claims that President Donald Trump and the G.O.P. were racist.
Now that all four Black Republicans are leaving Congress, Democrats are calling out the regression.
“Republicans won’t have any Black members in the next Congress because Republicans have no interest in actually representing Black voters,” Nebeyatt Betre, spokeswoman for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, told The Times, further arguing that recent policies from Trump and G.O.P., like cuts to health care programs and tariffs, have actively hurt Black Americans.
“It’s going to be really hard for even the most conservative Black Republican to look at this Republican Party and defend it,” Chris Taylor, senior adviser to the Congressional Black Caucus PAC, said. “This is a Republican Party that is at war with Black America.”
Greg Stelle, Media Affairs Director for the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC), told the outlet that House Speaker Mike Johnson and President Trump are actively working with the NRCC “to recruit candidates who look like their districts and win.”
He pointed to the recent addition of eight more candidates to the now-17-member “MAGA Majority Program” aimed at expanding the G.O.P. majority in the upcoming November midterms.
Of the 17 candidates, only former Stockton, California, Mayor Kevin Lincoln is Black.
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