WASHINGTON -- Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann, a conservative firebrand and a favourite of tea party Republicans, said Wednesday she will not run for another term in the U.S. House.
Bachmann, who ran for the Republican presidential nomination last year, announced her decision in a video on her website.
"My decision was not influenced by any concerns about my being re-elected," Bachmann said. She narrowly won a fourth term in 2012 over Democrat Jim Graves, a hotel chain founder who is running again in 2014.
Bachmann also said, "This decision was not impacted in any way by the recent inquiries into the activities of my former presidential campaign." In January, a former Bachmann aide filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission, claiming Bachmann 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.
A vocal opponent of the health care overhaul and other policies of President Barack Obama, Bachmann promised her supporters, "I will 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, Bachmann 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."
