Rep. David Loebsack (D-Iowa) announced Friday that he will not seek reelection next year, leaving a vacancy in a Democratic district that President Trump carried in 2016.
Loebsack, who has served in the House since 2007, said he had always intended to cap his service at 12 years but decided to run for an additional term after Trump’s election in 2016.
{mosads}“When first elected, I had planned to serve no more than 12 years. However, after Donald Trump assumed the presidency, it became apparent that I needed to run for at least one more term in the hopes that I could provide a check on his worst impulses,” Loebsack, 66, said in a statement.
“Currently, there are nearly two years remaining in this term and I look forward to playing an important role in the new House majority, not only to prevent further damage done by President Trump, but to also help set the stage for a new Democratic president to be inaugurated in January of 2021,” he added.
Trump carried Loebsack’s southeastern Iowa district by 4 points over Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton in 2016. Loebsack defeated his Republican opponent by 8 points that year, making him the only Democrat in the Iowa congressional delegation at the time.
Loebsack won reelection by 12 points in November.
The National Republican Congressional Committee had already designated Loebsack’s district as one of its 2020 targets, given Trump’s ability to win it in 2016.
The nonpartisan Cook Political Report moved the seat from “likely Democratic” to a “toss up” on Friday in light of Loebsack’s retirement.
Loebsack is the first swing-district Democrat this year to announce plans to retire. Rep. José Serrano (D-N.Y.) announced last month that he will retire after serving since 1990, citing a Parkinson’s disease diagnosis.