(May 16, 2011 - Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images North America)
Republican Presidential candidate and libertarian icon Ron Paul announced Tuesday that he will not seek reelection to the United States Congress representing Texas’s 14th Congressional District. Instead, he will focus his attention and energy on claiming the Republican nomination for President. The decision also clears the path for a Republican to emerge as a sufficient replacement for the nearly 24-year Congressman so as to prevent the seat from going Blue.
“I’m surprised,” she said. “He has won very handily in the last few elections. He’s hung in there all these years.”
While he has faced many opponents in his own party in recent years, no one has formally announced running for his nomination in the March 2012 primary, Dewey said.
“I think it will be treated as a wide-open seat,” she said. “You will have a lot of candidates on both sides.”
He unsuccessfully ran for president as the Libertarian Party candidate in 1988, and in 2008 unsuccessfully sought the Republican nomination for the White House.
Paul said while he is vacating the District 14 seat, he feels his chances for the 2012 Republican nomination are much better than in 2008, when he set fundraising records driven by the Internet.
“We have a lot more support right now,” he said. “Things are doing well for us.”
Parting Question… Does this put any pressure on Michele Bachmann to follow suit?
very bold move … Dr Ron is all in for the win
Yeah, he didn’t mention the fact that they carved up his district. This comes as no surprise to me. He would have had to actually campaign this time around. Texas wants to get rid of the dem in the district next to his and moved many republicans into that district. Paul would more than likely have lost had he run.
Details…. who needs details? It’s about a commitment to the job he wants, right?