Thornberry: ‘Time is right’ for a change

Congressman Mac Thornberry said Monday “the time is right” following his announcement that he will not seek re-election in 2020.

The Clarendon Republican referred to the people of the 13th District as his employers and, in his official statement, he expressed his gratitude for the people who had repeatedly elected him since 1994 and to those he worked with.

“It has been a great honor to serve the people of the 13th District of Texas as their congressman for the last 25 years,” Thornberry said in a statement released Monday. “We are reminded, however, that ‘for everything there is a season,’ and I believe that the time has come for a change. Therefore, I will not be a candidate for reelection in the 2020 election.”

Read Thornberry’s full statement here.

Thornberry sat down with The Clarendon Enterprise Monday afternoon and said there were three main points that led him to the decision not to seek a 14th term in office with the first reason being term limits.

“We did not get limits on terms in office, but we did put limits on committee leaderships,” Thornberry said. “You can’t serve more than six years.”

Thornberry became the chairman of the influential House Armed Services Committee in January 2015, the first Texan to hold the position. Even after the balance of power shifted to the Democrats in the 2018 election, Thornberry remained in a leadership role on the committee as the Ranking Minority Member.

“The rule applies whether you’re in the majority or the minority,” Thornberry said.
Secondly, the congressman said just the time in office itself makes him think it is time to step aside.

“I’ve been doing this for 25 years,” he said. “It’ll be 26 years, and that’s longer than I expected.”

And the third reason? Politics.

“The political environment makes it more difficult to get things done,” he said.

Thornberry has seen a lot of changes over the years, but the biggest change has been the level of discourse in the nation’s capital. And the animosity is not just for show or publicity. This, he said, is “a time of personal vendettas,” and he doesn’t see that changing anytime soon.

“It is different even behind closed doors,” Thornberry said. “Both parties have moved further into their ideological corners over time.”

The disappearance of conservative or “Blue Dog” Democrats and moderate Republicans has increased the level of partisanship, he said. That rancor has also crept into traditionally bi-partisan areas of policy making.

“For 58 straight years, the president, whoever it was, signed the defense authorization bill,” Thornberry said, “but this year we had a partisan vote in the House. Armed Services and Agriculture have been two of the most bi-partisan areas, but that’s changing now.”

The Texas Tribune reported that Thornberry’s announcement makes him the sixth Texas Republican to announce to announce an upcoming retirement from Congress. The Tribune called him “the last remaining Texas Republican from the class of 1994 and the dean of the GOP delegation.” It also said his retirement was not surprising due to committee term limits.

Asked about his thoughts on congressional term limits, Thornberry told the Enterprise that he’s always voted for it when it comes up.

“It only makes sense if it applies to everyone equally,” he said. “I think there are more benefits to it than not since people are so disillusioned with their government.”

The congressman did say, however, that it takes time to learn the processes in Washington.

“I served on the Armed Services Committee for several years before I went on the Intelligence Committee, and I was surprised by how much I didn’t know,” he said, “and I’m still trying to understand dairy policy.”

Thornberry chuckles when told that he made headlines with his announcement Monday.

“Some of the things that are being said… You’d think that I died,” he said.

The congressman’s term won’t expire until January 2021; and with 15 months left in office, he’s still got some things he wants to work on.

Not surprisingly, national defense is at the top of the priority list for the congressman who introduced a bill to create a National Homeland Security Agency six months before the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.

“We still have work to do to restore the readiness of our military and help the Pentagon be more innovative,” Thornberry said. “The private sector is leading on innovation in many areas, and there are a number of steps we can do along those lines.”

Close to home, Pantex, Bell Helicopter, and Sheppard Air Force Base play critical roles in the nation’s defense, and Thornberry said the people employed in those facilities are the ones who make their work significant.

“It will be important for my successor to be supportive of those roles,” he said.

Thornberry isn’t sure what he will do when his term comes to a close.

“I have a longer list of things I don’t want to do than things I want to do,” he said. “I’ll be looking for a job, but there are limits to how much of that I can do before I leave office. I hope to still have some connection to national security. I don’t see myself going back into practicing law. I wouldn’t want to have me as an attorney.”

Looking back on his service, Thornberry is reluctant to point his accomplishments in office or tout his legislative record.

“If people think I have fairly and honestly represented them, then I’m satisfied with that,” he said. “My main goal is to be the representative the people of this area deserve.”

And it is the people of the 13th District and the local community – his employers, he says – that he credits with his success.

“I have such gratitude for being born and raised in this community and for the values and support I have received and continue to receive from the people of Donley County,” Thornberry said. “It’s allowed me to do all I have been able to do.”