Jul 12, 2011

GOP presidential hopeful Ron Paul to retire from House

By Catalina Camia, USA TODAY
Updated 4m ago
Updated at 12:25 p.m. ET

Texas Rep. Ron Paul says he won't run for another term in Congress so he can concentrate on his bid for the GOP presidential nomination.

In a message posted on his Facebook page, Paul announced his retirement from the U.S. House.

"I have decided not to seek re-election for my House seat in 2012 and will focus all of my energy winning the presidency," he wrote.

Paul, 75, told a local paper in his congressional district that he didn't want to be distracted by running two campaigns at once. The libertarian-thinking candidate, who has a devoted following among supporters of his small government views, is running in his third White House campaign.

"I felt it was better that I concentrate on one election," Paul told The Facts, which covers Brazoria County, Texas. "It's about that time when I should change tactics."

By announcing his decision early, Paul told the newspaper he was giving would-be successors in the 14th District enough time to think about running for Congress.

Paul, an obstetrician-gynecologist before he went into politics, was first elected to Congress in 1976 from a South Texas seat that had never been represented by a Republican. He made an unsuccessful bid to unseat then-Sen. Phil Gramm in 1984 and went back to his medical practice for a while. (Political trivia: Paul's successor in that House seat was a Republican named Tom DeLay.)

After running for president as a libertarian in 1988, Paul published an investment newsletter and then a political one to highlight his free-market views. He ran for Congress again in 1996, challenging incumbent Greg Laughlin in the GOP primary after Laughlin bolted the Democratic Party to become a Republican.

Paul has been easily re-elected to the House ever since. The district, which runs along the Gulf Coast, includes Galveston, Victoria and Lake Jackson.

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