Camp won"t seek reelection

Rep. Dave Camp was first elected in 1990. | Getty

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).

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“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.”

(PHOTOS: Who’s leaving Congress?)

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.

(PHOTOS: 10 must-watch House races in 2014)

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.

POLITICO – Congress

Camp won"t seek reelection

Have You Ever Been So Excited That You Ruined You Chances for Re-Election?

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Have You Ever Been So Excited That You Ruined You Chances for Re-Election?

Sen. Thad Cochran To Seek Re-Election In Mississippi

Enlarge image i

Sen. Thad Cochran, R-Miss., at a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing on June 12.

Charles Dharapak/AP

Sen. Thad Cochran, R-Miss., at a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing on June 12.

Charles Dharapak/AP

Get ready for a bruising GOP primary battle in Mississippi.

Sen. Thad Cochran, R-Miss., said Friday he will seek a seventh term in 2014, setting the stage for a contentious contest that pits the Republican establishment against the Tea Party wing.

There had been speculation that Cochran, who turns 76 on Saturday and had raised relatively little cash, would retire rather than run again for the seat he first won in 1978. In October, Tea Party-backed state Sen. Chris McDaniel announced he would seek the GOP nomination whether or not Cochran ran again, and criticized the veteran incumbent’s vote to end the federal government shutdown.

Soon after, McDaniel received the endorsements of thee influential conservative outside groups: the Club for Growth, Senate Conservatives Fund and the Madison Project. SCF’s super PAC arm, Senate Conservatives Action, ran a statewide television ad in support of McDaniel last month.

Cochran, the second most-senior Republican in the Senate and the top Republican on the Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry Committee, serves on the powerful Appropriations Committee. Before Congress banned earmarks, he was recognized for his ability to direct federal funds to his home state.

After raising $ 53,000 last quarter, Cochran had just over $ 800,000 in his campaign account at the end of September — a relatively low amount for a sitting senator. But he’s expected to have the full backing of the GOP establishment during the campaign.

Cochran isn’t the only veteran GOP senator with a primary opponent next year, but he may be one of the more vulnerable. A November survey from the Democratic-leaning Public Policy Polling found Cochran with a 44 percent to 38 percent advantage over McDaniel. Fifty-five percent of the state’s GOP voters said they would prefer a more conservative alternative to Cochran.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham, Kansas Sen. Pat Roberts, Wyoming Sen. Mike Enzi and Tennessee Sen. Lamar Alexander are among the Republicans facing challenges from the right.

The winner of the June primary will be the overwhelming favorite in the general election, as Mississippi is one of the most reliably Republican states in the country.

News

Sen. Thad Cochran To Seek Re-Election In Mississippi

Rep. Bachmann says she won"t run for re-election

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Michele Bachmann, the Minnesota congresswoman whose sharply conservative views on social and fiscal issues elevated her to a leader of the tea party movement, announced Wednesday she will not seek a fifth term but insisted the decision was unrelated to ethics inquiries or her near-loss last fall.

It was a sudden turn for the foster-mom-turned-politician. She left the door open to other, unspecified political options.

Bachmann was traveling in Russia as part of a congressional delegation and was not available for interviews. In a lengthy video message to supporters, she said her decision “was not influenced by any concerns about my being re-elected.”

Ron Carey, a former chief of staff to Bachmann, said he suspects she was anticipating a tough battle ahead and seemed to be stuck in place in Congress.

“This is a great chance to exit stage right rather than have a knockdown, drag-out re-election fight,” said Carey, also a former state GOP chairman. “The reality also set in that she is not a favorite of Republican leadership, so she is not going to be rising up to a committee chair or rising up in leadership.”

Her departure next year is part of a larger shift involving the leading personalities of the tea party. Stalwarts like former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, former Rep. Allen West of Florida and former South Carolina Sen. Jim DeMint have left elected office to move into conservative organizations and commentary roles.

They’ve been replaced by a new round of tea party-backed lawmakers such as Sens. Ted Cruz of Texas and Mike Lee of Utah and Rep. Raul Labrador of Idaho.

“The movement had moved past her to a new round of leaders in Congress and the states around the country,” said Dick Wadhams, a Colorado-based Republican strategist. “In a short period of time, a new generation has stepped forward since the last election.”

Bachmann also said her decision “was not impacted in any way by the recent inquiries into the activities of my former presidential campaign” last year. In January, a former Bachmann aide filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission, claiming the candidate made improper payments to an Iowa state senator who was the state chairman of her 2012 presidential run. The aide, Peter Waldron, also accused Bachmann of other FEC violations.

Bachmann had given few clues she was considering leaving Congress. Her fundraising operation was churning out regular pitches for the small-dollar donations that she collected so well over the years. She also had an ad running on Twin Cities television promoting her role in opposing President Barack Obama’s health care overhaul. The early timing of the ad suggested she was preparing for a tough fight against Democrat Jim Graves, a hotel chain owner who narrowly lost to Bachmann in November.

Without the polarizing Bachmann on the ticket, Republicans could have an easier time holding a district that leans more heavily in the GOP direction than any other in Minnesota. A parade of hopefuls was expected.

By Wednesday morning, state Rep. Matt Dean, a former House majority leader, said he was inclined to run.

“It is something I have thought about in the past if Michele were to not run again,” Dean said. “It’s not something that I just started thinking about this morning.”

Graves said he thought Bachmann had “read the tea leaves.”

“The district is changing,” the Democrat said in an interview Wednesday with Minneapolis television station KARE. “They want somebody who really does have some business background and understands the economy and can get things done in Washington and back in the district.”

Andy Aplikowski, who has long been active in the district’s Republican Party chapter, said he expected Bachmann to run again but can understand why she didn’t.

“It’s a grueling thing to be in Congress. It’s a grueling thing to be Michele Bachmann in Congress,” he said. “Every move you make is criticized and put under a microscope.”

Bachmann’s strongly conservative views propelled her into politics, and once there, she never backed down.

She was a suburban mother of five in 1999 when she ran for a Minnesota school board seat because she thought state standards were designed to teach students values and beliefs.

She lost that race, but won a state Senate seat a year later. Once in St. Paul, she seized on gay marriage as an issue and led a charge to legally define marriage in Minnesota as between one man and one woman. That failed, but Bachmann had laid the foundation with social conservatives to help propel her into Congress in 2006.

In Washington, she turned to fiscal issues, attacking Democrats and President Barack Obama for government bailouts and the health care overhaul. Even in her early years in Congress, Bachmann frequently took those views to right-leaning cable talk programs, cultivating her national image as she built a formidable fundraising base with like-minded viewers outside Minnesota.

But her penchant for provocative rhetoric sometimes backfired. She was hammered in 2008 for saying Obama might have “anti-American views,” a statement that prompted a rare retreat by Bachmann and made her race that year closer than it would have been. She was also criticized by her fellow Republicans last July for making unsubstantiated allegations that an aide to Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton had family ties to Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood.

Her White House bid got off to a promising start, with a win in an Iowa GOP test vote. But Bachmann quickly faded and finished last when the real voting started in Iowa’s leadoff caucuses, a result that caused her to drop out. Saddled with debt, she opted to campaign again for her Minnesota seat and squeaked through.

But the failed presidential campaign continued to dog her. Allegations of improper payments prompted ethics inquiries. Bachmann also faced a lawsuit from a former aide that alleged someone on the congresswoman’s team stole a private email list of home-school supporters for use in the campaign. That case is pending.

On Wednesday, Bachmann promised supporters she would “continue to work overtime for the next 18 months in Congress defending the same Constitutional Conservative values we have worked so hard on together.”

As for her plans beyond Congress, she said, “There is no future option or opportunity, be it directly in the political arena or otherwise, that I won’t be giving serious consideration if it can help save and protect our great nation.”

Bachmann’s success in the talk media world led industry analysts to say she could easily move into a gig as a host. She has been mentioned as a potential challenger to first-term Democratic Sen. Al Franken but has given little indication that she would take that step.

___

Thomas reported from Washington. Associated Press writer Lou Kesten contributed.

Associated Press

Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

U.S. Headlines

Rep. Bachmann says she won"t run for re-election

Rep. Bachmann says she won"t run for re-election

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Michele Bachmann, the Minnesota congresswoman whose sharply conservative views on social and fiscal issues elevated her to a leader of the tea party movement, announced Wednesday she will not seek a fifth term but insisted the decision was unrelated to ethics inquiries or her near-loss last fall.

It was a sudden turn for the foster-mom-turned-politician. She left the door open to other, unspecified political options.

Bachmann was traveling in Russia as part of a congressional delegation and was not available for interviews. In a lengthy video message to supporters, she said her decision “was not influenced by any concerns about my being re-elected.”

Ron Carey, a former chief of staff to Bachmann, said he suspects she was anticipating a tough battle ahead and seemed to be stuck in place in Congress.

“This is a great chance to exit stage right rather than have a knockdown, drag-out re-election fight,” said Carey, also a former state GOP chairman. “The reality also set in that she is not a favorite of Republican leadership, so she is not going to be rising up to a committee chair or rising up in leadership.”

Her departure next year is part of a larger shift involving the leading personalities of the tea party. Stalwarts like former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, former Rep. Allen West of Florida and former South Carolina Sen. Jim DeMint have left elected office to move into conservative organizations and commentary roles.

They’ve been replaced by a new round of tea party-backed lawmakers such as Sens. Ted Cruz of Texas and Mike Lee of Utah and Rep. Raul Labrador of Idaho.

“The movement had moved past her to a new round of leaders in Congress and the states around the country,” said Dick Wadhams, a Colorado-based Republican strategist. “In a short period of time, a new generation has stepped forward since the last election.”

Bachmann also said her decision “was not impacted in any way by the recent inquiries into the activities of my former presidential campaign” last year. In January, a former Bachmann aide filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission, claiming the candidate made improper payments to an Iowa state senator who was the state chairman of her 2012 presidential run. The aide, Peter Waldron, also accused Bachmann of other FEC violations.

Bachmann had given few clues she was considering leaving Congress. Her fundraising operation was churning out regular pitches for the small-dollar donations that she collected so well over the years. She also had an ad running on Twin Cities television promoting her role in opposing President Barack Obama’s health care overhaul. The early timing of the ad suggested she was preparing for a tough fight against Democrat Jim Graves, a hotel chain owner who narrowly lost to Bachmann in November.

Without the polarizing Bachmann on the ticket, Republicans could have an easier time holding a district that leans more heavily in the GOP direction than any other in Minnesota. A parade of hopefuls was expected.

By Wednesday morning, state Rep. Matt Dean, a former House majority leader, said he was inclined to run.

“It is something I have thought about in the past if Michele were to not run again,” Dean said. “It’s not something that I just started thinking about this morning.”

Graves said he thought Bachmann had “read the tea leaves.”

“The district is changing,” the Democrat said in an interview Wednesday with Minneapolis television station KARE. “They want somebody who really does have some business background and understands the economy and can get things done in Washington and back in the district.”

Andy Aplikowski, who has long been active in the district’s Republican Party chapter, said he expected Bachmann to run again but can understand why she didn’t.

“It’s a grueling thing to be in Congress. It’s a grueling thing to be Michele Bachmann in Congress,” he said. “Every move you make is criticized and put under a microscope.”

Bachmann’s strongly conservative views propelled her into politics, and once there, she never backed down.

She was a suburban mother of five in 1999 when she ran for a Minnesota school board seat because she thought state standards were designed to teach students values and beliefs.

She lost that race, but won a state Senate seat a year later. Once in St. Paul, she seized on gay marriage as an issue and led a charge to legally define marriage in Minnesota as between one man and one woman. That failed, but Bachmann had laid the foundation with social conservatives to help propel her into Congress in 2006.

In Washington, she turned to fiscal issues, attacking Democrats and President Barack Obama for government bailouts and the health care overhaul. Even in her early years in Congress, Bachmann frequently took those views to right-leaning cable talk programs, cultivating her national image as she built a formidable fundraising base with like-minded viewers outside Minnesota.

But her penchant for provocative rhetoric sometimes backfired. She was hammered in 2008 for saying Obama might have “anti-American views,” a statement that prompted a rare retreat by Bachmann and made her race that year closer than it would have been. She was also criticized by her fellow Republicans last July for making unsubstantiated allegations that an aide to Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton had family ties to Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood.

Her White House bid got off to a promising start, with a win in an Iowa GOP test vote. But Bachmann quickly faded and finished last when the real voting started in Iowa’s leadoff caucuses, a result that caused her to drop out. Saddled with debt, she opted to campaign again for her Minnesota seat and squeaked through.

But the failed presidential campaign continued to dog her. Allegations of improper payments prompted ethics inquiries. Bachmann also faced a lawsuit from a former aide that alleged someone on the congresswoman’s team stole a private email list of home-school supporters for use in the campaign. That case is pending.

On Wednesday, Bachmann promised supporters she would “continue to work overtime for the next 18 months in Congress defending the same Constitutional Conservative values we have worked so hard on together.”

As for her plans beyond Congress, she said, “There is no future option or opportunity, be it directly in the political arena or otherwise, that I won’t be giving serious consideration if it can help save and protect our great nation.”

Bachmann’s success in the talk media world led industry analysts to say she could easily move into a gig as a host. She has been mentioned as a potential challenger to first-term Democratic Sen. Al Franken but has given little indication that she would take that step.

___

Thomas reported from Washington. Associated Press writer Lou Kesten contributed.

Associated Press

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Rep. Bachmann says she won"t run for re-election