Utah Rep. Jason Chaffetz’s announcement that he will retire from Congress at the end of 2018 has made some folks in Washington, D.C., very happy.

Advocates for District of Columbia sovereignty see Chaffetz, the chairman of the powerful House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, as one of their biggest tormentors. The Republican lawmaker especially riled local groups to action by attempting to exercise the committee’s authority to overturn D.C. laws under the Home Rule Act, long a sore spot for District residents.

“We’re thrilled,” said Lynette Craig, a Utah native who started a fundraising political action committee to overthrow Chaffetz. “Now we need to plan the early retirement of other opponents to self-rule, and there are plenty to choose from, unfortunately.”

Craig’s group, Americans for Self-Rule, handed out golf balls with Chaffetz’s face imprinted on them at a celebration of its launch this week. The group has raised $25,000 so far, she said.

The sum would be a drop in the bucket for a race against a lawmaker with Chaffetz’s national profile, and it is not clear how much of a factor it played — if any — in Chaffetz’s decision to retire from Congress. But for many D.C. residents, eager to find a way to take action in a political system that often ignores them, it represented the start of something remarkable.