![\"Rep.](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/250703-don-bacon-se-318p-92d925.jpg\")
Bacon sat down with NBC News in his office on Wednesday.Frank Thorp V \/ NBC News<\/p>\nWASHINGTON \u2014 Centrist Rep. Don Bacon, one of the most vulnerable Republicans in the House, said this week he doesn\u2019t have the \u201chunger\u201d for another grueling re-election campaign and won\u2019t run for a sixth term next year.<\/p>\n
But Bacon, who spent 30 years in the Air Force and specialized in intelligence matters, said he\u2019s interested in serving in an executive role down the road, and wouldn\u2019t rule out running for Nebraska governor, or even president in 2028.<\/p>\n
\u201cI got asked the other day, \u2018You say you\u2019re interested in being an executive \u2014 is that governor or president?\u2019 I go, \u2018Yes,\u2019\u201d Bacon said in an interview in his office. \u201cIf there\u2019s an opportunity and I can make a difference, a unique difference, I would like to keep serving. I just don\u2019t want to do two-year elections.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bacon, 61, acknowledged that it\u2019d be incredibly difficult to run for the White House as a current or former House member \u2014 James Garfield was successful way back in 1880. And Bacon said he\u2019s not sure his brand of Republicanism \u2014 Reaganism and a muscular view of foreign policy \u2014 can ever make a full comeback in the party, though he said he will continue making the case for it.<\/p>\n
Bacon sat down with NBC News in his office on Wednesday.Frank Thorp V \/ NBC News<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t think it would be very easily done,\u201d he said. \u201cAll I know is I have a heart to serve our country, and I have a vision.\u201d<\/p>\n
Defense secretary is another option \u201cif God opens up that door,\u201d he said, though he\u2019s not sure a Republican president would nominate him. He said he would not run against incumbent Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen, a fellow Republican and close friend who took office in 2023.<\/p>\n
Bacon\u2019s retirement from Congress is notable because he is one of the few sitting Republicans on Capitol Hill who have been willing to publicly criticize President Donald Trump, who has a reputation for retaliating against his enemies and ending their political careers. Bacon\u2019s announcement came just a day after another Republican who\u2019s clashed with Trump, Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina, said he wouldn\u2019t seek re-election<\/a> in 2026.<\/p>\n The pair of retirements came as both Tillis and Bacon were preparing to vote on Trump\u2019s mammoth domestic policy package \u2014 what the president calls his \u201cbig, beautiful bill\u201d \u2014 as both lawmakers expressed concerns about Medicaid cuts in the package. Tillis voted against it; Bacon voted for it.<\/p>\n But in the interview, Bacon insisted that neither the public feuds with Trump nor the violent threats<\/a> he and his wife have faced had any impact on his decision to leave Congress.<\/p>\n First elected alongside Trump in 2016, Bacon represents a swing district that includes Omaha and rural areas to the west; in 2024, Democrat Kamala Harris beat Trump in the district by 4.6 percentage points, while Bacon prevailed<\/a> over his Democratic challenger, Tony Vargas, 50.9% to 49.1%.<\/p>\n Bacon lamented that running in a tough battleground district every two years was an exhausting endeavor, and that he didn\u2019t have \u201cthe fire in my belly\u201d to win a sixth race.<\/p>\n \u201cThis job requires a 14-hour day during the week, Saturdays, parades and a variety of things, and Sunday sometimes. And do I want to do this for two more years? I just didn\u2019t have the hunger to want to work at that intensity level,\u201d said Bacon, who has a large pig figurine sitting on his desk. \u201cAnd my wife has wanted me to come home. I\u2019m gone to D.C. four days a week, and I have a chance to be home now seven days a week, and I have eight grandkids within 10 minutes of my house.\u201d<\/p>\n Bacon said he thinks he could have won re-election had he run, even though the party that controls the White House typically loses House seats in a president\u2019s first midterm election. On top of that, Democrats are salivating<\/a> at the chance to attack Republicans for voting for Trump\u2019s \u201cbig, beautiful bill,\u201d which slashes Medicaid benefits that are critical to districts like Bacon\u2019s.<\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/250703-don-bacon-vertical-diptych-se-241p-bf5da9.jpg\")
Bacon, one of the most vulnerable House Republicans, said he didn\u2019t have the \u201cfire in my belly\u201d for another congressional run.Frank Thorp V \/ NBC News<\/p>\n