WASHINGTON _ North Carolina Republican Mark Meadows, an outspoken ally of President Donald Trump and former chairman of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, is retiring from his U.S. House seat at the end of his term, he announced Thursday.
Meadows' announcement comes the morning after Trump was impeached by Democrats in the House of Representatives. Meadows fiercely defended Trump throughout the House impeachment process.
Meadows represents far western North Carolina. His 11th district was slightly redrawn by state lawmakers last month and now includes all of Asheville, though it is still a Republican-leaning district. Meadows was previously considered a candidate for Trump's White House chief of staff, and he said "my work with President Trump and his administration is only beginning."
"This President has accomplished incredible results for the country in just three years, and I'm fully committed to staying in the fight with him and his team to build on those successes and deliver on his promises for the years to come," Meadows said. "I've always said Congress is a temporary job, but the fight to return Washington, DC to its rightful owner, We The People, has only just begun," Meadows said in a statement.
He said it was "a decision I struggled with greatly."
Meadows is the third Republican House member from North Carolina to announce he is not running in 2020. Reps. George Holding and Mark Walker, whose districts were redrawn from solid Republican seats to Democratic-leaning ones, will not seek re-election in 2020.
The 60-year-old Meadows was first elected in 2011, winning an open seat vacated by Democrat Heath Shuler after redistricting. Meadows' caucus helped oust former Republican House Speaker John Boehner and was known for fighting against spending increases.
Since Trump's election in 2016, Meadows has been a vocal, ardent supporter. During his impeachment debate floor speech Wednesday, Meadows said Trump had grown the economy to levels "that we have never seen in the history of our country."
"What they're doing is they're telling the American people that 233 Democrats deserve to decide who the president of the United States should be and disenfranchise 63 million voters. When all is said and done, when the history of this impeachment is written, it will be said that my Washington Democrat friends couldn't bring themselves to work with Donald Trump so they console themselves instead by silencing the will of those who did _ the American people," Meadows said.
Meadows told Politico that it's possible he could leave the House before his term ends in January 2021.
"I plan to serve the people of western North Carolina until it's decided that I can best serve the president and the American people in a different capacity. And so while there's no immediate plans, there's certainly discussions that have occurred and potentially could occur in the future," Meadows told Politico.
The filing period in North Carolina ends Dec. 20. Four Democrats have filed to run in the 11th district: Steve Woodsmall, Gina Collias, Moe Davis and Michael O'Shea. Green Party candidate Tamara Zwinak has also filed. No Republican has filed to run in the district, as of Thursday morning.
