(CNN) – Rep. Michele Bachmann, who announced last week she won't seek re-election next year, says she may run for elected office again one day and is not ruling out another presidential bid.
But the Minnesota Republican said her future career in politics is not her top priority at the moment.
"I'm not retiring, I'm not going silent, I'm not quitting my public involvement," she said late Thursday night on Fox News' "Hannity." "In fact I may run for another public office. That could happen. But for right now I'm going to find a different perch in order to be able to weigh in on these matters."
While she said she didn't have a specific plan as of now, she is "wide open and looking."
Discussing her reason for leaving Congress, the fourth term representative said she will have served about the same amount of time as a president would serve–eight years. "And I do think that this is a body that needs to have continual turnover."
Bachmann ticked off a list of what she considers her accomplishments on Capitol Hill and in the tea party movement. Asked about a potential 2016 bid for the White House, Bachmann said "I'm not taking anything off of the table."
"But certainly that's not my number one item that I'm looking at right now," the 2012 GOP presidential candidate said. "I'm in the game for the long haul."
She was not asked about a recent congressional ethics inquiry into the improper transfer of campaign funds. However, Bachmann said last week that was not part of her decision to leave.
- CNN's Ashley Killough contributed to this report.
From CNN Politics
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Way to go Michele!! Best news us Libs have heard all week!!
Honey just set the money on fire instead. It'll be more interesting and worthwhile. Then go away. For good. Please.
Smart woman!! She knows how to make money. By keeping a door open, she will continue to get people who are crazy about her positions to send her lots of money, and it keeps her face in the news. She won't really run, but just like Sarah Palin in 2012, Michelle will make sure all her money making opportunities continue to plump up her checking account.
She will get her Swiss citizenship she planned on in 2011. She will move there with her huge campaign funds, and be out of reach of US laws.
Oh, yes. Please give this clown the nomination and run her as the GOP candidate, with Sarah Palin for VP. Please.
Sincerely,
An Aspiring Comedian
Right on! Split your party down the middle and hand the thing over again. The DFL could nominate a banana peel and be a shoe-in if she's throwing her hat in again.
America loves Michele Bachman. If she runs in 2016 she will win by a landslide. She is the only person that can save us and deliver us from evil.
I want every single American to donate $10 to her campaign. I want her to have $2 billion for her campaign.
Bachman-Palin 2016
Maybe not off your table, but it sure if off everyone else's!!!
Bachmann: "2016 is not off the table..."
Oh, yes it is, Michele, yes it is.
She just doesn't get it.
I didn't know we elected a Congressional jester!
Assuming (just for the sake of argument) she wins the primary that will just prove that the GOP is really scraping the bottom of the barrel. And even if she doesn't, they still are.
CRAZY is never off the table.
Can just we burn the table to keep a 2016 election bid from happening? She may or may not be smart, but her politics have hurt the country.
Bachmann had accomplishments?? In her mind only!
I am wondering that how in the world did she ever get elected to congress in the first place!
I'd rather Hillary ran for president. I really don't like that woman.
Why in the world would anyone be dumb enough to vote for this lying p.0.s.? She is as corrupt as they come.
It should be off the table and in the trash compactor. Oh well, it is her right to try again. Comedians will be on their knees thanking the Lord above for the material.
People like her and Palin just love to be kept in the limelight and for no other reason. Neither one of them has anything to offer!
Anybody who would give money to any campaign of Bachman's would have to be nuttier than she is.
Because she didn't misuse enough donation money already or what?
Wait – bigal is nuttier than she is. He's downright delusional.
The Amalgamated Comedians Employment Act of 2016.
Well, she runs, and the GOP hands another election to the Dems.....