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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yea.....because she knows she would not be able to make it through this election cycle, plus the GOP is not funding her as they had in the past.
This confirms it.... there is a God after all !
Hmm...criminal charges coming???
The state of Minnesota can take a deep breath of relief. The long embarrassment is soon over.
bye bye... don't let the door hit you on the way out
she was the laughing stock of America. and congress. No great loss, all she accomplished was to destroy the fabric of quality life with her views had no concerns for seniors GOOD BYE
Let the chorus of Hallelujahs rain down!
Another step toward America regaining its dignity.
Code word for "I have job making millions for a company I used to lobby for".
Thank goodness.
Finally, some good news when I turned on the computer this morning.
Yeah! Its a start at least. Now, if she wants to volunteer to jump on board that one way trip to MARS...
Can the church say amen? Let America rejoice. Perhaps now Mrs. Bachman will opt to enter an institution that will prove helpful because it is quite evident that Congress was not that place!
And throughout the land not a tear was shed.
If she knew she could win another term, why would she decide not to run again? Running would pretty much guarantee that a Republican would retain that seat. For some reason, I believe she is not telling the truth. All of a sudden term limits has become her political slogan.......
Please, please let her be preparing for 2016. Please!
Quite the eye opener on a sunny Minnesota morning ... yes? She just had her first commercial running in our local media. Wonder what changed her mind so early in this particular election?
And, darn it all. No more FOX-o-Bot dollars coming into Minnesota for our media to salivate and fight over. And no more really fine upstanding evangelicals showing us just how unchristian the right can become, especially during election time. Bachmann's 2012 campaign was one of the nastiest campaigns this state has ever seen.
The answer to many, many prayers from reasonable people.
Good,, glad to see this kook leaving congress. she'd be better off as a TV evangelist. We don't need her writing legislation In our country
now lets tell the truth, the tea party and the gop have asked her to step aside, sounds familar? the witch from the farnorth west ? after she told the country about sick gays and minority;s that won;t help themselves, how in the world would the gop look when they are corting these groups now that they have changed thier ways, latino;s are ok now, beforte they were a bunch of fence jumpers and stealing americans jobs ( that americans don;t want ) any chance that she would loose and the gop would suffer, but shut up and we;ll find a nice job for you after the election,i have to say she stuck to her beliefs......but the rest of the country has a diff. outlook at the country.
now that's something to "thank God" for.
she SQUEAKED out a win in 2012. she knows she would LOSE in 2014.
so she is stepping aside on her on, instead of facing defeat at the polls in 2014.
good riddance for ALL of America.
Bachman is certainly one of most clueless politicians, in the clueless history of all politicians.
.
She got out before she lost – contrary to Sarah Palin.
Good. We have had enough of this insane person.
"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.
I sincerely hope that she will do just that... for herself!
As far as I am concerned, she has done absolutely nothing for Minnesota; she is essentially nothing but a hairdo.