Just 48 hours after Rep. Michelle Bachmann made her stunning announcement to retire from the House of Representatives, the man who came within a whisker of unseating her last year says he too will forego the race.
Businessman Jim Graves lost to Bachmann by fewer than 4,300 votes in Minnesota's Sixth District — the third narrowest win for a Republican anywhere in the 2012 elections.
The Democrat had been gearing up for a rematch with Bachmann, but now that she is retiring, he feels he has won a victory of sorts and doesn't need to run again.
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"The feeling is 'Mission Accomplished,'" Graves told the Minnesota news website
MinnPost. "She wasn't representing the people of the 6th District appropriately and now she won't be representing them."
"There's no way anyone could run and win who would be worse than Michele Bachmann," he added. "So we accomplished that task."
Graves said he has no plans to run for office again. "I'm not a politician, I'm a business guy. Now there are zero things on my agenda that I feel a need to do in public life."
More than half a dozen Republicans are eyeing Bachmann's seat in the most GOP-friendly district in The Gopher State.
John Gizzi is chief political correspondent and White House correspondent for Newsmax.
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