Tea Party fave Bachmann won't run for Congress again

Catalina Camia | USA TODAY

Show Caption Hide Caption Rep. Michele Bachmann leaving Congress Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., has announced that she will not seek another term in Congress. Bachmann says she was not concerned about being re-elected or inquiries into her 2012 presidential campaign. (May 29)

Bachmann ran for the Republican presidential nomination last year

Move comes amid an FEC complaint against her former presidential campaign

She did not reveal her future plans

WASHINGTON — Tea Party favorite Michele Bachmann, a GOP conservative who ran for president last year, made a surprise announcement Wednesday and said she will not seek re-election to a fifth term in Congress.

The Minnesota Republican was facing inquiries into her 2012 presidential campaign and a potential 2014 rematch with Democrat Jim Graves, a wealthy hotel executive who came within about 4,300 votes of defeating her in November. She had already bought airtime in Minnesota to begin running campaign ads.

"My decision was not influenced by any concerns about my being re-elected," Bachmann said in a video posted on her website.

Bachmann added, "This decision was not impacted in any way by the recent inquiries into the activities of my former presidential campaign."

Former Bachmann aide Peter Waldron in January filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission, claiming the congresswoman made improper payments to an Iowa state senator who was the state chairman of her presidential campaign. Waldron accused Bachmann of other FEC violations.

Bachmann, 57, made a name for herself in Congress by staunchly opposing President Obama's health care law. In 2006, she became the first Republican woman elected to represent Minnesota in the U.S. House. Bachmann later co-founded the House Tea Party Caucus, a group dedicated to the anti-tax, small government principles that sparked the movement, and set out to repeal the health care law.

Her outspoken critique of Obama and frequent TV appearances, along with support from the Tea Party, invariably led to comparisons with Sarah Palin, the 2008 Republican Party vice presidential nominee. Palin had backed Bachmann during her 2010 re-election bid, when she faced a tough fight against Democrat Tarryl Clark. Bachmann said she viewed Palin as a friend and not a competitor.

In her presidential campaign, Bachmann tried to tap into her support from Tea Partiers — who also felt political kinship with candidates such as Rick Santorum and Rick Perry — in her bid for the GOP nomination. She made a number of gaffes on the campaign trail, such as the time she suggested the Revolutionary War battles at Lexington and Concord occurred in New Hampshire.

Bachmann blasted Perry, the Texas governor, in one televised GOP debate over mandating the HPV vaccine for schoolgirls and suggested it would lead to retardation. The American Academy of Pediatrics and other doctors spoke out to correct Bachmann, saying that the HPV vaccine, which prevents cervical cancer, would not cause mental retardation.

It was a quick rise — and fall — on the national scene for Bachmann, who declared her intention to seek the White House during a televised debate in June 2011. The Iowa native later that summer won the Ames Straw Poll, a state Republican Party fundraiser that is viewed as a gauge of grass-roots support for the first-in-the-nation caucuses. But Bachmann had trouble consolidating support among the Tea Party faithful and social conservatives, and dropped out the morning after the Iowa caucuses.

Months after some of her presidential rivals had already done so, Bachmann endorsed Mitt Romney for the GOP nomination.

Rep. Greg Walden, R-Ore., chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee, praised Bachmann as a "tireless advocate and dedicated representative for the people of Minnesota's 6th District." He said Bachmann "has worked hard each day to ensure that her constituents' voices are heard in the halls of Congress."

Bachmann routinely was among the House's top fundraisers and her 2012 race against Graves, the former CEO of the AmericInn chain, was one of the most expensive in the country. She raised nearly $15 million last year to about $2.3 million for Graves, and wasted no time cranking up her fundraising machine for the 2014 elections.

In one such e-mail pitch, Bachmann proclaimed that the "Pelosi-Obama campaign machine" was taking aim at her.

Democrats hailed Bachmann's decision to retire from Congress and held her up as an example of what is wrong with the Republican Party.

"Michele Bachmann's Tea Party brand of extremism and obstruction have infected the entire Republican Congress and her influence shows no signs of waning," said Emily Bittner, a spokeswoman for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.

The House Majority PAC, which works to elect Democrats to Congress, promised to help Graves win the seat based in the Twin Cities suburbs. "We are confident that we would have helped defeat her next November, but Bachmann voluntarily removing herself from Congress is a victory we can all celebrate today," said Alixandria Lapp, executive director of the House Majority PAC.

Bachmann promised in her video to "continue to work overtime for the next 18 months in Congress defending the same Constitutional conservative values we have worked so hard on together."

As for her plans beyond Congress, Bachmann said, "There is no future option or opportunity, be it directly in the political arena or otherwise, that I won't be giving serious consideration if it can help save and protect our great nation."

Follow Catalina Camia on Twitter at @ccamia.

Contributing: Associated Press