Fred Upton, Republican who voted to impeach Trump, retiring from House seat
Republican Rep. Fred Upton of Michigan speaks during the Problem Solvers Caucus press conference in the Capitol in February 2020.
By Kristin Wilson and Clare Foran, CNN
Rep. Fred Upton of Michigan, one of the 10 House Republicans to vote for impeachment against former President Donald Trump, announced on the House floor Tuesday that he was not running again for Congress.
“Even the best stories have a last chapter. This is it for me,” he said. “I’ve done the zillions of airline miles back and forth. I’ve signed over a million letters, cast more votes while in the chamber here and accomplished what I set out to do with more unfinished work still yet to come.”
Upton was on track to be forced into a Republican-on-Republican race due to state redistricting in Michigan.
Upton reflected on his long tenure in Congress and expressed a wish that civility will prevail in politics.
“Hopefully civility and bipartisanship versus discord, can rule, not rue, the day,” he said.
The fate of the 10 House Republicans who voted to impeach
Upton is the fourth of the 10 House Republicans who voted to impeach Trump for inciting an insurrection at the Capitol on January 6, 2021 to announce their retirement. The other three who have already announced they will not seek reelection are: Reps. Anthony Gonzalez of Ohio, Adam Kinzinger of Illinois and John Katko of New York.
The other House Republicans from the group of 10 — Reps. Liz Cheney of Wyoming, Jaime Herrera Beutler of Washington, Dan Newhouse of Washington, Peter Meijer of Michigan, Tom Rice of South Carolina, David Valadao of California — have also faced a backlash.
As part of the fallout, House Republicans ousted Cheney from a spot in GOP leadership last year with many arguing that the party needed to unify and focus on a common message in opposition to Democratic policy priorities as they seek to take back the House in the upcoming midterm elections.
Cheney and Kinzinger have become especially high-profile critics of Trump and have called for accountability in the wake of January 6, and both now sit on the January 6 House select committee investigating the attack.
A number of Trump-aligned Republican primary challengers have emerged in a bid to unseat the House Republicans who voted in favor of impeachment, targeting them over the vote and their willingness to rebuke the former President. In one of the most closely watched races, Trump has endorsed Harriet Hageman in a GOP primary challenge to Cheney in Wyoming.
This story has been updated with additional developments Tuesday.
The-CNN-Wire
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