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.
........and take John Boehner with you..........
She won't be missed – and she will fade just as 'that female governor from Alaska has' What was her name anyway? *wink*
Don't let the door hit you on the way out!
Ithe people in her district voted for her all these years, can't blame her they put her there; obviously their mind set is the same as hers/weird
awwww...I am so heartbroken...what am I going to do for wierd entertainment now that she is not running. oh! Wait! I am sure she will follow Palin's route continuing the blabbering jibberish which she is known for.
I always wondered about the 6th district Minnesotans who put there all these years.
aCriticalEye
Wow, reading all the posts.....she is truely NOT liked.
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She earned it.
Strange, but my headache just went away...
This theocrat should have been ousted a long time ago.
As Gomer Pyle used to say
Thank you!!! for leaving the congress. You are one of the main reasons for this congress's and our country's failure.
OMG, a teaparty member that actually did the right thing for our country. Who would believe it?
As a conservative.....thank GOD she is leaving. I can't stand her BS and Israel love-a-thon. Many conservative do not care about religion, Israel, and abortion. We care about business and taxes.
AS Gomer Pyle used to say "SURPRISE! SURPRISE"
Mitch
Never met a Minnesotan that liked this lady,
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She is what she is. I wish her luck trying to salvage her reputation outside of politics. Michele Bachamann is her own worst enemy.
It will be interesting to see what looney tune they will elect to replace her.
Have fun in jail!
The nation's loss is Fox News' gain! She'll certainly be joining that pack of animals, they have even lower standards than the people of Minnesota who keep electing her. Glad she took it upon herself the stop the madness.
Good riddance, happy to see her fade away. Hope we will never have to hear of her again.
Kevin
Its amazing how the media will viciously attack all conservative women.
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Yeah, because the rethugs have been nothing but sweetness and light to Michele Obama, HillaryClinton, Nancy Pelosi, Barbara Boxer, Diane Finestein, Gabby Giffords and every other "liberal" woman with the unmitigated gall to voice an opinion.
At least she promises to hang around to give us a few more laughs along the way. She's a kind lady.
All that time ans she NEVER accomplish a darn thing. Nothing. NOT one contribution to this great country and the fools in the 6 district continued to send her back to the trough. A total failure and disgrace to the flag.
Flummoxed because I can't figure out how she got elected in the first place! She doesn't know her history – confusing Concord, NH with Concord , MA; is a total failure at mathematics – Obama spending $200M a day on a trip to India, doesn't check facts – indeed, it seems that facts are anathema to her, sees only her fundamentalist values as the only true values. I could go on. Frankly to me id doesn't speak all that well for the people who elected her,.
I don't live in her district,but all the same I could not be happier that that embarrassment of a woman is leaving our state government. What a freak show. Good riddance.
So glad to hear this...she was a total flake!
Additionally, wish Steve King from Iowa (my home state) would do the same thing. He is a blight on Iowa and the United States! Almost makes me ashamed to say I am from Iowa when I hear him on the news...