Michigan Rep. Dave Camp, the chairman of the prestigious Ways and Means Committee, will not run for reelection in November, according to multiple Republican sources.
Camp was first elected in 1990, in a class that also included Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio).
“Serving in Congress is the great honor of my professional life,” Camp said in a statement released by the Ways and Means Committee. “I am deeply grateful to the people of the 4th Congressional District for placing their trust in me. Over the years, their unwavering support has been a source of strength, purpose and inspiration.”
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Camp said he will spend the remainder of this 113th Congress on efforts to “grow our economy and expand opportunity for every American by fixing our broken tax code, permanently solving physician payments for seniors, strengthening the social safety net and finding new markets for U.S. goods and services.”
The retirement was widely expected on Capitol Hill. Over the last few weeks, senior Republican officials were skeptical Camp would run for re-election.
After this Congress, term limits would prohibit Camp from serving another two years as chairman of the Ways and Means Committee. Without special dispensation from Boehner, the Michigan Republican would go back to being in the rank-and-file — a rough assignment for a veteran like Camp.
In Michigan, candidates must file for reelection by April 22 and Camp had not yet filed.
Camp is hardly the only veteran lawmaker in either party to announce his retirement this year.
He is the 23rd House lawmaker to announce they will leave this Congress. Other prominent Republicans calling it quits include Natural Resources Chairman Doc Hastings of Washington state, Armed Services Chairman Buck McKeon of California and Intelligence Chairman Mike Rogers of Michigan. Senior Democrats forgoing reelection include Reps. Henry Waxman and George Miller of California and John Dingell of Michigan.
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Camp is the third veteran Michigander to forgo reelection this year. Dingell and Rogers are both from his home state.
As the Ways and Means Committee chairman, Camp found himself at the center of much of the fiscal drama on Capitol Hill over the past few years. He was a member of the supercommittee and was involved in the debate over extending a controversial payroll tax cut and averting the 2012 fiscal cliff.
But tax reform – the goal of every modern day Ways and Means Chairman – eluded Camp.
Throughout the fiscal battles of the last few years, there was hope that Congress would work with President Barack Obama to overhaul the code. Camp has worked behind the scenes to lay the groundwork for a rewrite of the tax code, but to no avail. Earlier this year, he released a draft tax reform bill that ran into resistance from multiple corners of the House Republican Conference.
In 2012, Camp was diagnosed with non-Hodgkins large B-cell lymphoma. Doctors declared him cancer free later that year.
Republicans will be favored to retain Camp’s central Michigan seat, which GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney carried in 2012 with 53 percent of the vote. The district voted for Barack Obama in 2008 with 50 percent of the vote.
Democratic Congressional Committee Chairman Steve Israel said Monday that he viewed the district as within Democrats’ reach.
“Voters in Michigan’s fourth district have a history of backing members of both parties, supporting President Obama in 2008, and their hunger for an agenda that strengthens the middle class will make this district competitive,” he said in a statement.
Possible Republican replacements for Camp, according to a GOP source familiar with Michigan politics, include state Sen. John Moolenaar R-Midland and Peter Konetchy, a Roscommon businessman who announced last year that he would challenge Camp.
“Obviously I’m very pleased that he’s not seeking re-election. It’s very very good news. I think it’ll be very positive for me so I am very grateful for it,” Konetchy told POLITICO. “I always thought that he would retire because he’s retiring from the House Ways and Means Chairmanship and that’s kind of a big blow…I was surprised he didn’t announce it earlier.”
Camp won reelection in 2012 with 63 percent of the vote. He was unopposed in the GOP primary.
Juana Summers contributed to this report.
Camp won"t seek reelection
