Michele Bachmann, the firebrand conservative 2012 presidential contender, announced Wednesday she will not seek re-election to the U.S. House of Representatives.
Bachmann, a Minnesota Republican, did not rule out another run for the Republican presidential nomination.
She said in a video posted on her campaign website that four two-year terms was enough time for anyone to serve in the House. She gave no other specific reason for not running for a fifth term.
Bachmann faced a House challenge from Democrat Jim Graves who came within one percent of beating her in 2012. But fear of a difficult race in 2014 was not her reason for leaving the House, she said in the video.
Bachmann’s campaign for the 2012 nomination, which centered around charges that President Barack Obama was putting the U.S. “on the road to socialism,” brought her wide attention. But much of it was negative thanks to regular misstatements of fact.
While she had a conservative following, she placed sixth among the contenders for caucus votes in the conservative state of Iowa in January, 2012 with only 5 percent of the vote and withdrew from contention afterwards.
Bachmann also said in the video that an ethics probe being conducted by the Federal Election Commission into the handling of money for her presidential race was not a factor in her decision.
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