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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This has nothing to do with party affiliation, it is agreement on what is the best for this country's future which the Congress is not concerned with. Unfortunately just about all of the Congress is only interested in getting re-elected, gaining as much power as possible, and lining their pockets with as much money as they can take, con, or get by manipulation. The voters are dopes for always going with career politicians to re-elect them over and over again. Politicians are like diapers, they need regular changing, for they soon become full of it.
Michelle Bachmann will go down in history being called one of the "Cast of Clowns" by right wing observer, Charles K on Fox.
FEELING THE HEAT: Liberal Attorney Joins Calls For Holder to Be 'Fired'
One of the country's most prominent liberal legal scholars called Wednesday for Attorney General Eric Holder to be "fired," joining the growing list of left-leaning pundits slamming his department's pursuit of journalists' phone and email records
CNN as usual doing all they can to protect Obama refuses to report the news.
She has been an embarrassment to Minnesota .I can't believe the people of Minnesota actually voted for her.She must be getting ready to move to Oregon.
Doesn't plan to fade from public view? Oh please.........fade baby fade.
Danita
good job and now lets hope Hillary doesn't waste her time running.
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If Hillary chooses to run she'll win.
Hmmm, seems missy was guilty and decided to resign before action could be taken.
Couldn't be because she disagrees with Minnosota's stand on gay marriage, as she has enjoyed it's benefits for decades.
Congratulations to the people of Minnesota. This news should take the chill out of the air there.
At least she won't seek re-election. Better late then never. I just wished she would go away permanently ..she should find a small cabin somewhere and stay there. I live in Minnesota and I for one am glad to see her go.
YAY! It's a great day for Minnesota .... She will not be missed, Farewell
I hope she finds a limitless well and jumps into it. Thank GOD this woman won't have a vote in the House of Representatives. Now she can peddle her crazy conservative woman scree with Sarah "I Quit Because I Love America" Palin and the other hacks at Fox News.
Don't understand how she was elected to begin with, says something about her state. Out and out liar, not to bright. Makes you wonder about our voting system.
foxnews is hiring?
Goodbye! It was never nice knowing you!
I think she was the person who shared classified information with the faux noise reporter...
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My mistake – the classified information was given to an AP reporter. Rethugs:- so many scandals to create and blame other for/so little time.
You people who are making fun of Minnesotans for electing her fail to realize how it is one of only a select many sttes that always goes blue in presidential election. Look at California and the former governor or the former governor of Mass
this is a very sad day for me,who is going to be the victim for Jon Stewart and Saturday Night Live .
by the way she can run for knesset in Israel she has more chance to win then in Minnesota
Even though I am not from Minnesota, I view Bachmann's decision not to seek another term as a cause for celebration. She is a font of misinformation–to say the least.
does she mean Christian liberty?
I bet you $105 that she will become the next loud mouth on Fox (news).
She's no Walter Mondale, Hubert Humphrey, or Eugene McCarthy, that's for sure.
De Lady always liked to use Big Fluffy words. We all and America's comedians will miss her dearly.
And, no, just like Sarah the failin' Palin, there won't be a presidential come-back. The American public has seen and heard way too much from this lady.
Great –
Now's she's going to be a lobbyist; FAR more dangerous...
Really CNN two days of this yet no real news about the disasters of Obama and Holder? Liberal biased much CNN?
Unless she becomes a babbling head for Faux Noise, late night TV hosts are going to lose an unending source of humor.