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.
Good for Minnesota, good for the country, and good for politics! Who is next!
Why would she protect academic excellence? According to her religion, she's not even allowed to teach and is supposed to keep her big mouth shut in church.
because she know she'll lose...
Thank God.. one less fruit loop in the house. Her resignation is proof that God loves us and truely cares.
One lunatic less
Buh-bye Crazy Shelly...thanks for the laughs.
Intelligence wins..
hahaha, "religious liberty" and "academic excellence" in the the same sentence. Now there is an oxymoron!
NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! First Sarah...now Bachmann....who will make me laugh?!! Rand Paul just isn't as funny.
Too bad. You could always count on her for a nut-quote. Wait! Maybe she's going to run for president. Is that too much to hope for?
Who says there is never any good news????
Goodbye, Michelle.
Good luck to Ms. Bachmann in her future endeavors.
Good riddance. This crazed theocrat has done enough damage.
Congress's IQ just went up by 50 %
Thank you God! My prayers have been answered!
Thanks Bachmann......Good Riddance of Bad Trash............
Three guesses:
1) contemplating White House run
2) getting out ahead of more violations
3) Pulling a Palin. The woman's a nut-job, but she's smart enough to know the fortune she could make doing the book/speaking circuit, fleecing all the Tea Party rubes.
I want to hear more about those congressional inquiries/investigations and Federal Election Commission complaints regarding Michelle Bachman political past and her campaigns. What you mat have said and done Michelle is coming back to bite you. Your exit from the political scene is very timely and overdue. GOODBYE MICHELLE!
Thank God!!!
If I only had a brain. Her fav. song..
That last sentence should read "I promise you I will continue to fight to stifle women's rights, discriminate against gays, incorporate religion into government and ensure our kids are taught the world is 5,000 years old and evolution is a scam."
as the Almighty being that I am, all that I have to say about her not running for re-election; one word...good.
She's smart enough to see that the cards were stacked against her, with all the problems enumerated in the article, and decided to get out now. She'll shill a book or get a gig on Fox and make more money.
A future as a Faux News shill.