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.
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Let the flaming lefties begin.
Running for office in Switzerland, then?
Read the story headline and immediately thought an investigation of some sort is coming her way. Read the details and sure enough there it is. Hard to be a GOPer these days... they are viewed by main stream Americans as losers. Their extinction continues.
Too bad.. I enjoyed her idiotic rants.
Good bye, good luck and have a happy life in what ever insane asylum your family parks you in.
We couldn't be that lucky to see her just disappear.
What I dislike about this candidate is her "I know what I know and don't confuse me with facts or logic" attitude.
What a relief. She and Palin are getting married.
Who is she kidding? She's been winning her seat by large margins until this last one. That plus the otehr items she mentioned are clearly the reasons she's not running. IThe ethics investigation would give her opponents a lot of fodder in an election.
And some of the things she's said in the past also would play in the mind of voters. I would not be surprised if a Democrat won that seat.
Ironic that she decides not to run for another term just as the announcement was made that she is the focus of a congressional ethics committee investigation. Wonder what they'll find? I'll bet there's a big ole skeleton or two in that closet. (and I'm not talking about her husband being in there himself)
Nah nah nah nah
nah nah nah nah
Hey Hey Hey
Goodbye.
Good riddance.
Applauds!!! Yea!!! Woo-Hoo!!! The intelligence level of the House of Representatives is about to go up…
...nah, the impending Congresional Ethics impeachment and FEC fines had NOTHING to do with her leaving....and of course she's not worried about money, she'll continue to take the quarter of a million dollars her 'farm' gets in Fed Farm Aid....
All I have to say is "Thank you Lord"!!!!!
Good riddance! What an embarrassment to the GOP and to America in general. This "Looney-Tune" needed to take a hike long ago. Wouldn't doubt she's investigated for criminal activity alongside the FEC probe.
Yeah and the collective IQ of the HR goes up a little bit
Great news: One less republican moron in of congress. She can have a reality show with Sarah Palin and call it the "Dumb Girls".
Oh, happy day! We loathe her here in MN.
The general IQ of the House just shot up 100 points! She ought to team up with Palin and form a company of the truly ignorant.
1st 'not stupid' thing she's ever accomplished in the house!
I think she will fade away. Despite all her talk, I don't think Bachmann has accomplished much in office. I do give her credit though for speaking her mind. I think she would have done better in the 2012 primaries if she had some tax reform plans since she quickly faded after the Iowa caucuses.
Aliens from another planet are finally coming back for her.
Good Riddance!
Does she really think she has a chance at the WH???
Please Michelle, throw your tarnished halo into the ring girl. The cuntree needs a good ole Amurikan like you!!
Before it's over, they are going to need a clown bus!!
At this rate the dems could run Weiner and win!!