Photo via Congressman Neal Dunn, M.D. on Facebook.
Rep. Neal Dunn (R-FL) is planning to announce an early retirement next week, according to Florida Politics publisher Peter Schorsch — an exit that would drag the House Republican majority out the door with him.
Dunn, 72, announced last month that he had decided “[a]fter much prayerful consideration and discussion with my family” to not seek re-election.
A former Army surgeon, Dunn was first elected in Florida’s 2nd congressional district in 2016. The seat has been heavily Republican since it was redistricted for the year Dunn first ran, preferring President Donald Trump over former Vice President Kamala Harris by a margin of 59% to 41% in 2024.
Since securing his first primary win in 2016, Dunn has coasted to easy victories each election: 67% to 30% for his Democratic opponent in 2016, 67.4% to 32.6% for the Democrat in 2018, 97.86% to 2.14% for an independent write-in candidate in 2020, 59.8% to 40.2% for the Democrat in 2022, and 61.64% to 38.36% for the Democrat in 2024.
Currently, Republicans have the majority in the House by a very narrow margin, 218 to 214, and three seats vacant, meaning any time Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) is facing a party-line vote, he can only afford to lose a single Republican member’s support. Tied votes fail, and there is no tie-breaker for the House like the role Vice President JD Vance serves in the Senate.
In other words, Dunn making an early exit would have repercussions beyond just the representation of his district in the Florida Panhandle, making it all but impossible for Johnson to move any bills forward unless he can win over at least one Democrat while preserving the unanimous support of his caucus.
Schorsch first reported on Tuesday that his reporters were “trying to track down [a] rumor” about Dunn “resigning imminently rather than at [the] end of his term.”
About a half-hour after Schorsch’s tweet, a spokesperson in Dunn’s office told Tallahassee Democrat reporter Jim Rosica that the congressman did not intend to resign early and would serve the remainder of his term.
But that wasn’t the end of the story, Schorsch insisted.
not done with this story.
Gonna be a long 4-day weekend for @DrNealDunnFL2 staffers.
+ if you’re running in CD 2 in 2026, best get ready for an oddly timed Spesh Elex https://t.co/oKQoA5VQY7
— Peter Schorsch (@PeterSchorschFL) February 11, 2026
Schorsch followed up Wednesday with a new report citing a “top source” who said Dunn would announce he was retiring early at some point next week, along with a “time certain” before the midterms elections in November, setting up a special election for the summer.
Schorsch added that Dunn’s early retirement would be “health related,” apparently after ongoing complications from Covid.
UPDATE 1:30pm ET: Several reporters spoke to Dunn Wednesday afternoon and he said he was “not making any comments right now” about the reports of his early retirement — which is notably not a denial.
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The post With House GOP Majority Teetering on the Brink, Florida Congressman Plans to Retire Early: Report first appeared on Mediaite.