Capitol Hill lawmakers share what they’re grateful for this Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is the time when people across the country express their gratitude, and it’s no different for those who work on Capitol Hill.

Lawmakers from both sides of the aisle told Fox News Digital they are grateful to their families, including Reps. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., and Erin Houchin, R-Ind.

“And it’s a real blessing to be able to be here and serve,” Houchin added of his work.

Other lawmakers were just happy to get out of Washington.

“I’m happy to be in Massachusetts. I’m grateful for that…I’m going to walk away from this, you know, damn show that’s been going on here for the last two weeks,” said Rep. Jim McGovern, D-Mass.

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Both Reps. Anna Paulina Luna (pictured with her son) and Steny Hoyer (pictured with his wife Elaine Kamarck) said they were grateful to spend time with family this Thanksgiving. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images; Paul Morigi/Getty Images for Ovation TV/Up Entertainment)

When asked what he would do at home, McGovern replied, “I do a 43-mile walk every year for the Food Bank of Western Massachusetts. So Monday and Tuesday I will walk 43 miles.

He joked: “So this might be the last time you see me.”

And some are grateful for the newfound family time — like House Budget Committee Chairman Jodey Arrington, R-Texas, and former House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., who just remarried in June 2023.

“I’m grateful for a lot of things. I have a wonderful new wife that I’m going to be married to for two and a half years now,” Hoyer said. “My first wife died in 1997, so I was single for a long time.”

But now he added: “I’m very happy. I’m grateful, we have 17 grandchildren, they’re all healthy, they’re all doing well.”

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Rep. Jodey Arrington speaks during a news conference after the House narrowly passed a bill conveying President Donald Trump’s agenda at the U.S. Capitol in Washington on May 22, 2025. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

And Arrington, who will retire from Congress at the end of 2026 after 10 years, told Fox News Digital: “I’m grateful for 10 years of a tremendous opportunity to serve my country and leave a legacy of a better future for my children, and now to return to those children to be a man of my own house instead of the man of the people’s house.” »

Meanwhile, Rep. Tom Suozzi, D-N.Y., said Thanksgiving is a good reminder to practice gratitude in everyday life.

“I’m always very grateful for the blessings that I’ve received, both for me personally and for my family. I’m just very grateful. It’s an important practice, I think, for everyone, to always be grateful. Even when things are bad, you have to try to be grateful all the time. Gratitude is the attitude,” he said.

Rep. Jim McGovern, Democrat of Mass., speaks during the House Rules Committee meeting at the U.S. Capitol on January 31, 2023. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)

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Asked about her favorite Thanksgiving tradition, Houchin told Fox News Digital, “My family and I — we don’t do it anymore — but have a popsicle stick ornament-making competition. It was a good time.”

Luna said she was “binge-watching ‘Harry Potter'” and Hoyer smiled, “I’m a big turkey and gravy guy.”

“Eating a lot of food and watching a lot of football,” Arrington said when asked what tradition he was most looking forward to this holiday.