WASHINGTON — Republican U.S. Rep. Larry Bucshon of Indiana announced Monday that he will not seek re-election to an eighth term this year and will retire from Congress after 14 years.
Bucshon did not explain his decision not to seek re-election in Southern and Western Indiana's 8th District, but said in a statement that he came to his decision to retire over the Christmas holidays.
“The Scriptures teach, 'For everything there is a time,' and over the Christmas holidays, with much discernment and prayer, it became clear to me that the time has come to bring my season of public service to a close,” he said.
More than twenty members of the House of Representatives are looking for another position or retiring ahead of the 2024 elections.
Bucshon first won the seat in the Republican-leaning district in 2010, when then-Democratic Rep. Brad Ellsworth left this seat to run for the U.S. Senate. The 8th District covers several Indiana counties in the west-central and southwestern parts of the state.
Bucshon, a ranking member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, thanked his wife Kathryn, their four children and his constituents for their support over the past fourteen years of his congressional career.
“As the son of an underground miner and a nurse who grew up in a small town in rural America, it has been the privilege of a lifetime to have had the opportunity to represent Hoosiers in South and West Central Indiana as their elected representative in the United States Congress,” he said.