Rep. Tom Garrett (R-VA) took to the microphone on Thursday to dispel rumors that he may drop his reelection bid: “I am absolutely, positively running.”
In a Facebook live video, he bemoaned the plodding legislative process in the House, saying “it’s like pounding your head perpetually against a stone wall.” He attributed his fleeting thoughts of resigning to this frustration, and added that quitting has occurred at some point to “everyone here” in Congress.
He also fielded questions about his chief of staff, Jimmy Keady, with whom he abruptly parted ways on Tuesday evening. “My chief of staff wasn’t fired, because if you’re fired, the last thing I say to you is ‘we’d love to have you if you’d like to stay,’ so by definition he wasn’t,” he said. “It’s been a pleasure to be his friend and to work with him, and sometimes in life you decide to do different things.”
He addressed the speculation that he may have been spurred to retire by his lackluster fundraising numbers. “I don’t like fundraising much,” he said. “But we’ve turned a corner, we’re doing extraordinarily well, and we’re going to be fine.”
Asked about his strategy coming out of this patch of uncertainty, he reeled off his motto: “God’s got a plan, Tom works hard.”
