Rep. Trey Hollingsworth will not seek reelection this fall in Indiana’s 9th Congressional District, becoming the 12th Republican to leave the House and the first to announce such plans this calendar year. Conversely, 26 Democrats will either retire or leave to seek another office.
In an op-ed for the Herald-Times, Hollingsworth wrote, “I ran for Congress to return this government to the people from the career politicians who had broken it, and I will be damned if I become one in the process. I hope Hoosiers will replace their Congressman with someone with a similar attitude. Voters in America should, too.”
The third-term lawmaker cited his pledge in 2016 to spend no more than four terms in the House if elected because “serving the public wasn’t intended to be a career by our founders.”
The district is considered a safe Republican seat, located in south-central and southeastern Indiana and stretching from the southern suburbs of Indianapolis to the Kentucky state line. Hollingsworth, 38, would likely have been elected to a fourth term had he sought one.
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Hollingsworth was one of just 35 Republicans who joined Democrats to support the creation of an independent commission to investigate the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the Capitol.
Hollingsworth, who founded a small business, was accused of carpetbagging when he initially ran for office, moving to Indiana from Tennessee.
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He is seen as a likely gubernatorial candidate in Indiana in 2024. In his op-ed, Hollingsworth did not make his future plans clear, but he said he will “will fight for you and us in different ways.”
