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.
lol she is guilty as can be, obviously.
She's gonna retire and spend that gubmint farm subsidy cash
I think her not running for congress is an excellent step towards helping to "save and protect our great nation for future generations.”
As far as the the U.S. Congress is concerned for 2014 – "Ding, dong, the witch is dead".
One small step for mankind.
Oh No....the biggest distortionist and lying machine in US politics won't be re-running. What a sad day for US politics.
good riddance!!!
At least the government is a little safer now.
Good riddance to bad rubbish...taking out the trash.
I wish her well.
Oh please run again Michelle. Loved watching you try to outrun reporters when they try to get you to clarify a statement you have made. We all know you live in a bubble where there is no clarity.
Ding dong the witch is dead... or at least going away.
She barely won her last reelection. This is just a ploy to save her the embarrassment.
Don't let the door hit you in your ass on the way out. She has made Minnesota the laughing stock of America.
Fade. Please just fade.
but she will collect her government checks she wants some boby else to pay for
Good riddance!
Bachmann humbly failed to say that the reason she decided not run was because the voice of God told her directly not to do it. CNN later learned that the "voice" actually came from Sen. John McCain as he hid behind a large Syrian rebel, disguised his voice and shouted, "Leave Michelle, leave now" In other breaking news, Sen. Mitch McConnell is also hearing voices.
I am as fiscally conservative as they come, but all I can say is good riddance. Let's hope she settles in as a commentator on Fox News and doesn't go for Senate or worse.
Good have a nice life we won't have to hear her hatred anymore
She's a shoe in for Mayor of Crazytown
If she thinks shes going to be President she needs to be committed. No Tea Party candidate will ever be elected President.
I'm no fan of Bachman but citing an eight year term limit for Congess is a dialogue that needs to take place. Congress has been hijacked by lobbyists (recent gun vote case in point) to the point where the will of the people has become irrelevant. This is not a partisan issue; both the donkeys and the elephants are piggies at the trough.
Hooray! Good riddence.
You have no future unless you give gifts for votes or change the law to make people on food stamps and wellfare unable to vote. Citizens who cannot support themselves are not entitled to vote.
What an excellent idea. Hopefully a trend that will catch on with her peers...