GOP Rep. Bob Goodlatte of Virginia announced on Thursday that he will not seek re-election in 2018, citing the upcoming end of his tenure as chair of the House Judiciary Committee.
“After much contemplation and prayer, we decided it was the right time for me to step aside and let someone else serve the Sixth District,” Goodlatte said in a statement. “With my time as Chairman of the Judiciary Committee ending in December 2018, this is a natural stepping-off point and an opportunity to begin a new chapter of my career and spend more time with my family, particularly my granddaughters.”
First elected in 1992, Goodlatte chaired the House Agriculture Committee from 2003 to 2007 and has chaired the powerful Judiciary Committee since 2013. In the House, Republicans committee chairs have a party-imposed term limit of six years.
Goodlatte’s decision makes him the 25th Republican congressman to announce his retirement this year, including two other term-limited chairs: House Financial Services Committee Chairman Jeb Hensarling and House Science, Space and Technology Committee Chairman Lamar Smith.
Although Democrats won big in Virginia’s statewide elections Tuesday, there’s no reason to think Goodlatte wouldn’t have easily won a 13th term. At the top of the ticket, Republican Ed Gillespie lost the governorship to Democrat Ralph Northam by 9 points, but Gillespie carried Goodlatte’s 6th District by 22 points.
