House Judiciary chairman announces retirement

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.) said Thursday that he will not seek reelection, becoming the latest in a string of GOP lawmaker retirements.

Goodlatte, 65, is the third term-limited House committee chairman to announce his plans to leave the chamber within the past week.

“With my time as Chairman of the Judiciary Committee ending in December 2018, this is a natural stepping-off point and an opportunity to begin a new chapter of my career and spend more time with my family, particularly my granddaughters,” Goodlatte said in a letter to supporters.

It’s my honor to represent #VA06. I cannot begin to express how blessed I am to have had the opportunity to serve. Now is the right time to step aside – I will not seek re-election. My statement: https://t.co/tByoe5vFmO

— Bob Goodlatte (@RepGoodlatte) November 9, 2017

Two other House committee chairmen, Reps. Lamar Smith (R-Texas) and Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas), also announced last week that they will not seek reelection.

Hensarling chairs the House Financial Services Committee, while Smith leads the Science, Space and Technology panel.

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House GOP conference rules limit lawmakers to only serving up to three two-year terms as committee chairmen. Democrats do not apply such limits to their members.

Two other House Republicans, Reps. Ted Poe (R-Texas) and Frank LoBiondo (R-N.J.), earlier this week, also made their plans not to seek reelection public. 

Of the retirements announced in the past week, only LoBiondo’s southern New Jersey seat is expected to be competitive in next year’s elections.

Goodlatte’s western Virginia district, which spans most of the Shenandoah Valley to Roanoke, is expected to remain solidly in the GOP column. President Trump won the district by nearly 25 points in 2016.

Goodlatte’s retirement announcement came following the election for Virginia governor on Tuesday, which Democrat Ralph Northam won by 9 points.

But Goodlatte, who has served since 1993, was already considered a possible lawmaker who could opt not to seek reelection regardless of the Virginia election results, given that he would be term-limited as chairman of the House Judiciary Committee.

Before becoming chairman of the Judiciary panel in 2013, he led the House Agriculture Committee from 2003 to 2007.