Rep. Bachmann looks forward to 'limitless' future, but not in the House
Updated Wednesday 5/29 at 10:30 a.m. ET
(CNN) - U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann, a conservative firebrand whose bid for president last year ended after the Iowa caucuses, will not seek re-election to her Minnesota congressional seat in 2014.
Making her announcement in a video posted to her campaign website early Wednesday, Bachmann stressed she had no plans to fade from public view.
"Looking forward, after the completion of my term, my future is full, it is limitless, and my passions for America will remain," she announced.
Bachmann, who's in her fourth term representing Minnesota's 6th District, promised that there "is no future option or opportunity" that she "won't be giving serious consideration if it can help save and protect our great nation for future generations."
Bachmann staved off a tougher-than-expected challenge for her seat last November against Democrat Jim Graves, winning re-election by just under 5,000 votes. Graves has announced he will seek the seat again in 2014.
In her video announcement, Bachmann said her decision was not influenced by any concerns about winning reelection.
"I've always, in the past, defeated candidates who were capable, qualified, and well-funded. And I have every confidence that if I ran, I would again defeat the individual who I defeated last year, who recently announced that he is once again running," Bachmann said.
Nor was her decision based on any concerns over an ongoing congressional ethics inquiry into the improper transfer of campaign funds, Bachmann said in her video. She is also facing a Federal Election Commission complaint about her former presidential campaign.
"This decision was not impacted in any way by the recent inquiries into the activities of my former presidential campaign or my former presidential staff," she said. "It was clearly understood that compliance with all rules and regulations was an absolute necessity for my presidential campaign. And I have no reason to believe that that was not the case."
Bachmann's run for president in 2012 reached its peak in August 2011, when she beat out a slate of other candidates to win the Ames Straw Poll in the early voting state of Iowa, where she was born. Her campaign lost steam in the fall to other conservative candidates like Rick Perry, Herman Cain, Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum, and she eventually placed sixth in the first-in-the-nation Iowa caucuses. She ended her presidential bid the next day.
In the eight-minute long video, Bachmann, an early supporter of the Tea Party movement, touted her work on a variety of conservative issues, promising to "to work vehemently and robustly to fight back against what most in the other party want to do to transform our country into becoming, which would be a nation that our founders would hardly even recognize today."
Bachmann was one of the leading supporters of the emerging tea party movement in 2010, founding the "tea party caucus" in the House of Representatives and delivering her own "tea party response" to President Barack Obama's State of the Union address. Most recently she organized a tea party rally on Capitol Hill protesting the Internal Revenue Service's admitted targeting of conservative groups applying for tax exempt status.
In her video, she said she wouldn't let up on the causes she championed as a U.S. representative.
"I promise you I have and I will continue to fight to protect innocent human life, traditional marriage, family values, religious liberty, and academic excellence," Bachmann said.
In a polite statement, National Republican Congressional Committee Chairman Rep. Greg Walden wrote Bachmann "has been a tireless advocate and dedicated Representative for the people of Minnesota’s Sixth District."
"Michele was the first Republican woman elected to represent Minnesota in the U.S. House of Representatives, and she has worked hard each day to ensure that her constituents’ voices are heard in the halls of Congress," he continued.
Democrats were less laudatory - the House Majority PAC, which works to elect Democrats to Congress, wrote Bachmann's decision was "good news for the people of Minnesota and our nation."
"Bachmann voluntarily removing herself from Congress is a victory we can all celebrate today," the group's executive director Alixandria Lapp wrote.
CNN's Kevin Liptak and Martina Stewart contributed to this report.
From CNN Politics
- Social Security will not be able to pay full benefits in 2034 if Congress doesn't act
- 10 Cards Charging 0% Interest Until 2024
- Federal judge says insurers no longer have to provide some preventive care services, including cancer and heart screenings, at no cost
- Biden says government will cover cost of Mississippi storm cleanup
- Republican leaders and Trump loyalists on Capitol Hill rally behind the former president after indictment
- Florida House passes bill extending ban on sexual orientation and gender identity instruction to 8th grade
Finally! Don't have to listen to her crazy, religious idiocy.
Its all about the money.sad to say but why be a voice of the people when you can get a contract worth 5times as much with fox news or cnn msnbc? This whole political front is just a scam.but we the people are the true suckers because we eat it all up.
Please run.....run away to the relevancy that is Sarah Palin.
Please change your plans and fade from public view.
I wish to pass my congratulations on to Minnesota on surviving the twit...I mean representative. Now just don't do anything stupid, like vote her to the Senate.
crazy eyes out of office is good news for the world.
Who cares. She'll write a book that sells well in the South at Sams club, get a year or two long gig on Fox as a "commentator," maybe pop back up next election for commentary since she ran before, and then fade into obscurity.
Unfortunately, she won't disappear. She is probably preparing for a presidential run.
Coming Soon on FOX: Michele Madness! Join Michele and her co-host Ann Coulter as they shriek, scream, babble and rant about a variety of issues, including Barack Obama, Barack Obama, Barack Obama, and Barack Obama. If you are an old white guy who doesn't get out much, you will be furious over the things you hear! If you are a normal person, you will be mildly amused.
Next month's headline: Michele Bachmann indicted for campaign fraud.
That GOP clown car.........that was the best they could do.
The Democrats will be losing one of the best advertisements/recruiting/get-out-the-vote tools they've ever had.
Finally, Bachman does something that will actually help this great nation move forward. Too bad she does not follow Palin's lead and quit now
I don't care why she is not going to run, but I just want to say THANK YOU GOD!!!!!! She can take her crazy rants back to Minnesota.
In her video announcement, Bachmann said her decision was not influenced by any concerns about winning reelection.
---
liar. She would lose the next time because people are finally on to her insane rantings and hypocritical blather
STRIKE UP THE BAND.
but at the same time I wonder if this lady is a political canary trying to get out of her cage at the bottom of the mine.? I wonder...... this is a veritable feast of food for thought.
There is a God!
Oh good, one less idiot in congress. The question now is, will a bigger idot be elected, or a better representative?
Ah...she finally realized that people know she's nut's!
Daily her chances of winning even the office of Dog Catcher were bleak............ and there was (IS) a very good chance she'd be serving her time from behind Bars anyway. Thank God we would have to live through the drama of another Election cycle with her in the clown car............
Goodbye and good riddance. Or, are we going to have to put up with her antics on Fox Noise?
She needs to gin up her defense for her upcoming trial on campaign irregularities. The fecal brained imbecile belongs in jail.
What is the use of talking about religious liberty? she failed to stand up for "Dalit" Christians freedom of religion in India!
Christian Freedom Now!!
She knows that defeat is inevitable this time around.
2 funny and good riddance to the poster child of congressional ignorance.
Dumber even than Palin, and that ain't easy.
Buh-bye Bachmann.
Don't hurry back.
thank you, Michelle... for leaving.