Rep. Gary Miller (R-CA) announced Wednesday that he is retiring from Congress.
Miller, who had been in Congress for over a a decade and a half, said he would not seek re-election at the end of his current term from Congress.
Miller’s district has been one Democrats have been hoping to pick up this cycle. The district went for President Barack Obama over Mitt Romney in 2012 handily. Obama won 57 percent of the vote while Romney won 41 percent. In 2008 Obama won the district over Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) by essentially the same margin.
See TPM’s full retirement list here.
Read Miller’s statement below:
I have been honored to serve the residents of Southern California for more than 15 years, which has allowed me the opportunity to give back to a community that has given me so much.
When I came to Congress in 1999 my children were grown and out of the house. Today, we have a full house again. My wife and I are raising our three grandchildren.
It has been a great honor to spend so many years in public service, striving to make a difference for Southern California families. While there is still a lot of work to be done, it is now time for me to pass the baton. I will not seek re-election to Congress at the end of this term.
While family circumstances dictate that I must leave this great institution at the end of this session of Congress, I am committed to serving out my term with the same energy and enthusiasm that I have always brought to the debate.
Going forward, we must all remain focused on real solutions to create jobs, grow the local economy, and stabilize the housing market. Rather than waste our time on proposals that divide us, we need to focus on feasible, bipartisan solutions to provide opportunities for hardworking Americans.
I want to take this opportunity to thank my staff for their tireless dedication to the constituents they serve. Their commitment to tangible and timely solutions to meet the needs of countless families has made a real difference in people’s lives and made our community a better place.
I also want to thank my family for their years of patience and support for my time away in Washington.
And most of all, I thank my constituents for entrusting me with the honor of representing them in Congress.
