Meadows, Trump Ally, Will Not Seek Reelection

“For everything there is a season. After prayerful consideration and discussion with family, today I’m announcing that my time serving Western North Carolina in Congress will come to a close at the end of this term,” Meadows said in a statement. “My work with President Trump and his administration is only beginning.”

“This was a decision I struggled with greatly,” he said.

Meadows is now the 25th House Republican to leave before the next Congress, citing retirement or ambitions for another political post, an exodus that has been fueled in part by frustration at being deprived of power in the minority and term limits on leadership positions.

First elected in 2012, Meadows co-founded the conservative House Freedom Caucus and served as a consistent thorn in the sides of two successive Republican speakers, John Boehner and Paul Ryan. But he found his most powerful perch as one of Trump’s top allies on Capitol Hill — and last year was considered for the position of the president’s chief of staff.

Meadows did not elaborate further Thursday what his continued work with Trump might entail.

As House Democrats began their impeachment inquiry into Trump over his pressure campaign against Ukraine, Meadows emerged as one of the president’s leading defenders and was frequently spotted huddling with the president at the White House, proximity that fueled his political influence even as Republicans held little power in the House.

Asked by a North Carolina newspaper if the Freedom Caucus was still relevant in a Democratic-controlled House, Meadows smiled.

“Oh, more relevant than you might imagine,” he said.

His role as a critical supporter of the president came as a departure for Meadows, who built a reputation on his hunger to challenge the Republican establishment and its leaders. In an escalation of the bad blood simmering between the right flank of the Republican conference represented by Meadows and the more centrist leadership, in 2015 he attempted to overthrow Boehner, ultimately influencing the then-House speaker’s decision to retire early.

Under Ryan’s tenure as speaker, the House Freedom Caucus continued to flex its muscles as the most powerful group of lawmakers in Congress.

As Meadows eyes his next job, it is not immediately clear who his successor might be. Friday is the deadline to file for reelection in his heavily Republican congressional district — a short turnaround time for any potential candidate.

Meadows is the third Republican from North Carolina to announce his decision to leave Congress; he made no mention of the newly redrawn districts in his state in his statement. Meadows was still expected to keep his seat, despite what was expected to be a more challenging reelection campaign.

His announcement comes a day after he voted against two articles of impeachment against the president. Ultimately, the Democrats won the vote and impeached Trump, making him the third president to be impeached in U.S. history.

After the vote Wednesday, Meadows wrote in a Twitter post, “Today will be remembered as the day your House Democrat majority voted to impeach President @realDonaldTrump for a crime they couldn’t find and a case they couldn’t prove. You won’t forget. And neither will we.”

This article originally appeared in The New York Times .