He announced it this morning via Twitter:
Paul contends that he’s not running for reelection so that he can concentrate on just one campaign — his third (and hopefully last) Presidential bid.
LAKE JACKSON — After serving almost 24 years in the U.S. House of Representatives, Congressman Ron Paul told The Facts exclusively this morning he will not be seeking another term for the District 14 seat.
Paul, 75, will instead focus on his quest for the presidency in 2012.
“I felt it was better that I concentrate on one election,” Paul said. “It’s about that time when I should change tactics.”
His announcement will give enough time for anyone with aspirations for his seat to think about running, he said. Paul didn’t want to wait for filing in the 2012 primary to let people know he wasn’t seeking reelection.
“I didn’t want to hold off until in December,” he said. “I thought it shouldn’t be any later than now.”
Paul has served 12 terms in Congress. District 14 encompasses a 10-county area along the Gulf Coast.
I like Ron Paul. Agree with a lot of his policies. Think we need more men more like him in Congress. But I can’t help but feel the man might just be a little bit insane. I think our Congress was better for having him in it, and will be lesser without him. But, as a proponent of term limits, I also think that 24-years is way too long to be in Congress, and it’s time for him to go and make room for someone else.
Who Will Replace Paul?
So now the question here in Texas is who will run to replace him — from the Democrat and Republican side of the aisle.
The Texas Tribune is reporting that state Rep. Larry Taylor is interested.
One potential contender for the seat U.S. Rep. Ron Paul is vacating looks to be state Rep. Larry Taylor, R-Friendswood. He issued a statement this afternoon throwing his hat pretty close to the ring.
“Congressman Paul’s announcement today not to seek re-election has created a rare opportunity for public service at the national level,” Taylor said in his statement. “I have received encouragement from conservative leaders across Texas this afternoon. It is an opportunity that I will consider very seriously in the coming weeks.”
I would have thought that Debra Medina, who is a Ron Paul protege (and has the same unstable group of supporters shared by Paul, and also seems to be nearly as insane as Dr. Paul) would have been a given to run for that seat now that Pual is bowing out. But Medina said it was doubtful that she would run to replace him, but she doesn’t think the newly drawn District 14 would be as friendly to a Libertarian (she’s not a Republican) candidate, despite the newly redrawn district being 55% Republican).
On the Democrat party side, my new Twitter BFF (we’ve exchanged quite a few messages back-and-forth — and, I gotta admit, he’s earned my respect) State Rep. Joe Deshotel, a somewhat-moderate Democrat, initially expressed interest in running against Ron Paul, but has now stated that he will not run for that seat because he doesn’t believe he could beat a “traditional” Republican:
New Dist 14 is 55% Republican. If Ron Paul would have been the sure Republican Nominee. I could have beat him because of crossover vote in Jeff County. However I would have been a one termer once a traditional Republican became nominee next time around. So I had decided to stay put, if the good people of District will give me the honor again. I also think there is a significant democratic undercount in Galv County as people continue to move back after Hurrican IKE. #txlege
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I’m confident another can be found that will request as much in earmarks as he did.
cool. it’s going to be a highly annoying race obviously. on a totally off topic note..Robbie. 2 actually.
Robbie? what happened to adding me back on the blog roll? Did you catch the post I did last week on Kind Word and a 2×4 regarding the occasional suggestion, [it's been made again..I read yet another article 9 days ago.] of changing the National Anthem from The Star Spangled Banner to America The Beautiful?
My own take on it.
http://kindwordand2x4.blogspot.com/2011/07/change-national-anthem.html
Oops. Thanks for the reminder, Sean.
You’ve been added to my Texas Right blog roll!
your welcome Robbie. I added you to mine while you were still on the old server network before moving to this one. Right after I added you[the very next day as a matter of fact] Urbangrounds was offline..due to the “tolerance” of our oh so unfriendly, out of this neighborhood, muslim hack stalkers.
A little insane, Robbie? Maybe twenty years ago when he still made sense about other things including the Federal Reserve. Now he is just 90% batshit crazy.
He and Kucinich are like stopped clocks.