GOP Rep Considering Leaving Congress to Be TV Contributor

Pennsylvania Republican Rep. Charlie Dent is considering leaving his House seat early to be a TV contributor, The New York Times reported.

Dent may be planning to follow former Rep. Jason Chaffetz, who abruptly left Congress this summer to become a Fox News contributor, citing personal reasons for leaving and pitching a pay raise for House members.

Dent announced he would not run for his seat in 2018 earlier this year, but there’s some doubt that he will finish out the rest of the term.

“I have no definitive plans,” Dent told The Times, but said he has spoken with executives at TV news outlets about becoming an analyst.

.@jmartNYT & @alexburnsNYT reporting retiring Rep. Charlie Dent (R-PA) may be resigning early. His #PA15 sits in the Lehigh Valley; was Trump +8%. https://t.co/G4tFjDw922

— J. Miles Coleman (@JMilesColeman) December 14, 2017

“There’s not one thing that made me decide. It just seemed like the right time,” Dent said in September when he announced he would not seek reelection for personal reasons.

“I’ve also noticed that there are some people — I’ll say this kindly — who overstay, and I don’t want to be one of those folks who has been here too long. I’d rather leave when I’m at the top of my game.”

Chaffetz signed on with Fox to “offer political analysis across FNC and FOX Business Network’s (FBN) daytime and primetime programming” in June.

Following the publication of The Times piece suggesting he may be stepping down early, Dent spoke to Pennsylvania newspaper The Morning Call to clarify his remarks.

“I never say never to anything in this business. I learned that a long time ago,” Dent said.

Will Charlie Dent leave Congress early to become a TV analyst? He says he has "no definitive plans," despite suggestions by NYT that he might leave his post early. https://t.co/PaEuL7Oruk

— Laura Olson (@lauraolson) December 14, 2017

“But right now, my only plan is to serve in this job.”

Dent admitted that he has spoken to “various people about the future,” including some who work at TV networks.

“(The New York Times reporter) asked if I ever spoke to anyone in the TV world. Yes,” he said.

While emphasizing that he has “no definitive plans,” for the future, Dent said he expects “2018 will be a year that it will be difficult to achieve legislative accomplishments.”

A version of this article appeared on The Daily Caller News Foundation website.

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