Rep. Trey Gowdy will not run for re-election later this year, the South Carolina Republican announced Wednesday.
In a statement posted to his Twitter account, Gowdy said he is leaving politics in order to return to the justice system.
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“I will not be filing for re-election to Congress nor seeking any other political or elected office,” Gowdy said. “(I)nstead I will be returning to the justice system. Whatever skills I may have are better utilized in a courtroom than in Congress, and I enjoy our justice system more than our political system.”
Gowdy noted that there is “no perfect way to make this announcement.”
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But with the filing deadline to run for his seat approaching, he said he wanted to ensure that those who “might be interested in serving” have “ample time to reflect on the decision.”
Gowdy’s statement ended with a biblical reference, from the book of Ecclesiastes, which he said “teaches us there is a time and a season for all things.”
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“There is a time to start and a time to end. There is a time to come and a time to go,” Gowdy added. “This is the right time, for me, to leave politics and return to the justice system.”
With Gowdy’s announcement, he becomes just the latest in a string of Republican committee chairmen to announce they will not seek re-election.
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The South Carolina Republican, who heads the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform,” joins Tennessee Rep. Diane Black, New Jersey Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen, former Utah Rep. Jason Chaffetz and several committee chairs who decided to relinquish their positions.
In total, 34 House Republicans have announced they are retiring this year, according to The Daily Kos.
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Gowdy came to national prominence when he was the head of the House Select Committee on Benghazi.
Moreover, “Gowdy also engaged in highly publicized questioning of former FBI Director James Comey during the investigation into Hillary Clinton’s emails,” according to Axios.
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