“Too many women have been harmed by harassment in the workplace. In the terrible situation in my office, I could have and should have done better,“ Rep. Elizabeth Esty said. | Joshua Roberts/Bloomberg via Getty Images Rep. Esty won’t seek reelection after mishandling harassment allegations “In the terrible situation in my office, I could have and should have done better,“ she said.

Rep. Elizabeth Esty (D-Conn.) announced Monday that she will not seek reelection after coming under fire for her handling of sexual harassment allegations against her former chief of staff.

“I have determined that it is in the best interest of my constituents and my family to end my time in Congress at the end of this year and not seek re-election,” she said in a Facebook post. “Too many women have been harmed by harassment in the workplace. In the terrible situation in my office, I could have and should have done better.”


Esty's announcement follows calls from several prominent Connecticut politicians of both parties demanding she resign after news broke late last week of how she addressed the sexual harassment and abuse allegations launched against a former top staffer.

Esty kept her then-chief of staff Tony Baker on the payroll for three months in 2016, even after she learned of Baker’s threats to kill a female staffer he’d once dated, while investigating the allegations.

“You better f-----g reply to me or I will f-----g kill you,” Baker said in a voice message, according to a recording obtained by The Washington Post.

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The female staffer, Anna Kain, told the Post that in addition to a voicemail recording of Baker’s threat to kill her, she also provided “detailed allegations” that Baker had “punched, berated and sexually harassed” her when she worked in Esty’s office as a senior adviser in 2014.

Baker left the office in August 2016, but he received a $5,000 severance and a positive letter of recommendation for employment from Esty, according to the Post report.

Several top Democrats in her home state, including the Senate majority leader and president pro tem, had called on her resign.

“Congresswoman Elizabeth Esty’s decision not to run for another term is the right one," said Connecticut Gov. Dannel Malloy. "I spoke with the congresswoman multiple times over the weekend and as recently as today, encouraging full transparency with the press and public, and also urging her to do what is in best interest of her constituents and her family. I believe she is now doing that."

Prominent Democrats in Washington had expressed concern with Esty’s actions but stopped short of calling on her to step down.

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and Esty spoke by phone Monday, and Pelosi was informed of her decision to retire, according to an aide to the Democratic leader.

Esty previously rebuffed calls to resign and took several steps in recent days to try to contain the controversy.

The Connecticut Democrat sent a letter to her colleagues on Friday, promising to “do better” in the future.

“In the spring of 2016, my then-Chief of Staff made a threat of violence against a former member of my staff,” Esty told legislators in a memo obtained by POLITICO. “I was horrified and angry to learn that someone I put my trust into could victimize a member of my staff, someone I respect and care deeply about.”

And on Monday, Esty asked the House Ethics Committee for an expedited review of how she handled the charges against Baker.

“It certainly was far from a perfect process — and I would appreciate their advice, counsel and review,” Esty said of the Ethics panel in a statement earlier Monday.

“I have apologized for my mistakes in the handling of this matter. I feel terribly for the victim of abuse. In seeking this inquiry, I want to clarify whether there was any wrongdoing on my part.”

Esty’s handling of the abuse allegations against her top staffer was first reported by the Connecticut Post on Thursday.

With Esty’s departure, the seat is not guaranteed to remain in Democratic hands.

Esty won a close, hard-fought race for her first term in Congress but strengthened her hold on Connecticut's 5th District in later elections, winning 53 percent of the vote in 2014 and 58 percent in 2016.

But the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee put Esty in its program for incumbents in tough seats last year, after Hillary Clinton took 50 percent in the district in the 2016 presidential election.

Another possible complication for Democrats in the northwest Connecticut district is Malloy, who is not running for reelection in 2018 but was less popular than President Donald Trump in a poll taken earlier this year for a labor group.

Republicans have started floating William Petit Jr., a doctor and member of the Connecticut House of Representatives, as a potential candidate for the seat. Petit is the sole survivor of a gruesome home invasion more than 10 years ago in which his wife and two daughters were murdered.

Scott Bland and Alex Isenstadt contributed to this report.

CORRECTION: Anna Kain’s last name was misspelled in an earlier version of this article.