Photo: Alamy
President Trump is celebrating another retirement of a “RINO” who voted to impeach him following the events of Jan. 6, 2021.
In a statement, Trump wrote, “UPTON Quits! 4 down and 6 to go. Others losing badly, who’s next?”
Rep. Fred Upton, R-Mich., who voted to impeach Trump, announced on Tuesday that he is retiring from Congress after deciding not to run against Trump-endorsed Rep. Bill Huizenga, R-Mich., for reelection.
So far, Reps. Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill., Anthony Gonzalez, R-Ohio, and John Katko, R-N.Y., have all chosen not to run for reelection after voting to impeach President Trump.
Now, Fred Upton can be added to that list.
Upton announced the news during a speech on the House floor in which he said, “Even the best stories have a last chapter. This is it for me.”
Upton has often been considered an establishment Republican and has been derided as a RINO (Republican In Name Only) by conservatives and Trump supporters, even before he voted to impeach the 45th president.
The South West Michigan Republican has represented the soon to be defunct 6th Congressional District since 1993 and is the longest-serving member of Congress from Michigan.
Upton’s decision of whether he would seek reelection was further complicated by redistricting.
In 2018, Michigan voters approved a ballot referendum that took power to redraw congressional and state legislative districts away from the Republican-controlled state legislature in Lansing and conferred this power upon an independent redistricting commission of four Republicans and four Democrats, and five independents.
Michigan was also one of only a few states in the union to lose a congressional seat due to a drop in the state’s population.
The redistricting commission created a new 4th district that would have pitted two Republican incumbents— Upton versus Trump-backed Bill Huizenga.
Instead of this matchup, Upton opted for retirement.
Trump had previously endorsed State Rep. Steve Carra to challenge Upton for the 6th Congressional District. However, that was before the district was done away with and replaced by the new 4th district.
Trump opted to endorse Huizenga instead for the 4th district election.