Griffin confirmed his plans with POLITICO. Arkansas Rep. Tim Griffin to retire

Arkansas Rep. Tim Griffin, a second-term Republican, announced on Monday that he will not seek reelection in 2014, citing a desire to spend more time with his family.

“It has been an agonizing and difficult decision involving much prayer, thought and discussion. We have decided that now is the time for me to focus intently on my top priority, my family, as Elizabeth and I raise our two young children,” Griffin said in a statement to the Arkansas news site Talk Business.


“To that end, I will not seek reelection to a third term. I will complete my second term, but I have made no decision as to my plans after Congress except that I will continue in public service, including as a lieutenant colonel in the Army Reserve,” he said.

Griffin confirmed his plans to POLITICO.

The Republican was elected in 2010, succeeding longtime Democratic Rep. Vic Snyder, who retired that year. Griffin holds a much-coveted seat on the powerful, tax-writing Ways and Means Committee.

Griffin, an ambitious up-and-comer who got his start in George W. Bush’s White House and then became a U.S. attorney, had long been mentioned as a potential candidate for statewide office. But he decided to take a pass on campaigns for governor and Senate in 2014.

Democrats are eyeing Griffin’s Little Rock-area 2nd District seat, in which Mitt Romney received 54 percent of the vote. Patrick Henry Hays, the former North Little Rock mayor, has been in talks with the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee about running for the seat.