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.
Crawl back under your rock..
I'm thinking she's going to go after Franken's Senate seat. I'm actually hoping she will because she will be thoroughly smashed and ground into hamburger. Most Minnesotan's aren't as narrow minded as the Republican gerrymandered 6th district.
...the only logical call she has made in her career...she was going to lose anyway. What scares me more is that she will follow Sara Palin in going around the country raking in millions giving speeches to bigoted, ignorant, homophobic, racist, creationists. That could do more damage than she as an irrelevant congresswoman.
This is one nutcase who is actually worse than Sarah Palin
Maybe she plans to earn more $$ as a lobbyist than she would earn as a 'government employee.'
FREE HEALTH CARE for the rest of her life. Why would she care to run again. Must be nice to serve two terms and get coverage for life. No wonder our taxes continue to grow at crazy rates. People who can afford to pay for their own healthcare because of their individual wealth getting something most us us can't afford. WHAT IS WRONG WITH THIS PICTURE?????
When I first saw the headline on my Facebook feed I thought it was an Onion article... it was just too good to be true. When I found out it was for real, well, lets just say I'm having the best Wednesday ever!!!
Good news. She has been a constant threat to the Affordable Health Care Act. A extreme right wing republican who is willing to turn her back on thousands of Americans with pre-existing conditions by screaming "Repeal" She always sounded as though she would throw us to the wolves. All the time, seemingly preaching on her interpretations of Bible Principles. She never offered a alternative plan for Americans with health conditions. Just like Speaker Boehner, she is a truly heartless Politician who has lost compassion for REAL people with REAL health conditions in favor of Political gain.
This news made my day. There is something about this woman that just screams incompetence.
Without an official office from which to rant she's going to fade away just like Palin. Sure there will be the rubber chicken circuit and maybe a book but even Fox News won't offer her a long term contract because she doesn't represent anyone. Like Palin we'll hear from her occasionally on a Twitter or Facebook snarky remark but it won't have any impact except for the tisk, tisk, tisk, and the pity it will generate.
I live in the 6th District in MN. This is Christmas! In May! What a wonderful piece of news to wake up to.
Glad to see her go. She is a screwball.
One less religious hypocritical dumbo nutbag in the party of stupid.
you would think with the IRS so called scandal that the Tea party would have gotten a boost but the leader bails out?....the party is over
Good news. She has been a constant threat to the Affordable Health Care Act. An extreme right wing republican who is willing to turn her back on thousands of Americans with pre-existing conditions by screaming "Repeal" She always sounded as though she would throw us to the wolves. All the time, seemingly preaching on her interpretations of Bible Principles. She never offered a alternative plan for Americans with health conditions. Just like Speaker Boehner, she is a truly heartless Politician who has lost compassion for REAL people with REAL health conditions in favor of Political gain.
Quitting because she wants Swiss citizenship & run for US President 🙂
She would have lost anyway in 2014. She won reelection in 2012 by less than 1000 votes. Not to mention she is the subject of an FBI probe into campaign "irregularities". And, in her illustrious four term stint on the taxpayers dime, not one piece of legislation she introducde became law. An ineffective, loud-mouthed, uninformed, reprobate who never should have been in Congress.
"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.
One word: LIAR!
Might be she is eyeing for the Governorship or a Senate seat. It is really hard to believe she is just walking away.
Michele "Bawk"man is chickening out of running again. She's dim, but knows that the writing was on the wall for a defeat this time around. Good news: she can help Marcus come out and be true to himself, plus now she does not have to be a hypocrite, she can take from the government as she has been doing for years without being a caricature that swears against such things.
Bye Michele, normally I'd say "don't let the door hit you on the way out", but I'll make an exception for her.
thank god now if we can get rid of A couple hundred more idiots on both sides we might have A future.
Oh happy days.
This is probably the best thing she has ever done... in her life...
"Fake News Channel here I come!"
There is joy in heaven