Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann on
Wednesday announced she would not seek a 5th term in the
House of Representatives.
The 57-year-old Bachmann, a Tea Party
favorite, said in a video posted online that eight years was long
enough for her.
“In my opinion, eight years is also
long enough for an individual to serve as representative to a
specific congressional district,” she said, noting that presidents
can only serve two 4-year terms.
Bachmann, who is facing allegations of
possible campaign finance violations in connection with her 2012 GOP
presidential bid and a tight reelection race in her district, was
quick to dismiss those concerns.
“Be assured, my decision was not in
any way influenced by any concerns about my being reelected to
Congress. I've always, in the past, defeated candidates in the past
who are capable, qualified and well-funded and I have every
confidence that if I ran I would again defeat the individual who I
defeated last year, who recently announced he is once again running.”
“And rest assured this decision was
not impacted in any way by the recent inquiries into the activities
of my former presidential campaign or my former presidential staff,”
she added. (The video is embedded on this page. Visit
our video library for more videos.)
Bachmann has a long history of anti-gay
rhetoric, once saying that being gay was “a very sad life. It's
part of Satan, I think, to say this is gay. It's anything but gay. …
Because if you're involved in the gay and lesbian lifestyle, it's
bondage. Personal bondage, personal despair, and personal
enslavement. And that's why this is so dangerous.”
In 2011, Bachmann and her husband
Marcus Bachmann were criticized for offering “reparative” therapy
at their Minnesota Christian counseling clinics. Bachmann defended
the practice by saying that it would be discriminatory not to offer
the therapy, which attempts to turn gay people straight.
Bachmann was also criticized for her
ties to Bradlee Dean, the founder of the ministry You Can Run But You
Can't Hide International. Bachmann had appeared at several
fundraisers for Dean's ministry and had previously lauded his work.
In
an epic rant on his radio show, Dean condemned passage earlier
this month of a gay marriage bill in Minnesota.
“The conservatives on the airwaves in
Minneapolis who are sitting there playing games with the homosexuals
because they think it's a puppy to be played with, when in fact it's
a stinking water rat filled with rabies,” he said.