WASHINGTON, Feb. 29 (UPI) -- U.S. Rep. David Dreier, R-Calif., said Wednesday he would not run for re-election after 16 terms in the House.
Roll Call said Dreier, the House Rules Committee chairman, was a victim of redistricting. California's independent redistricting process left him without a real option for re-election.
"What I'm about to announce will not come as much of a surprise," Dreier said from House floor. "We all know that this institution has an abysmally low approval rating, and the American people are asking for change in Congress. So I'm announcing today that I will leave the Congress at the end of this year."
Under the new redistricting process, Dreier was put into a district that -- had it existed back then -- President Obama would have won in 2008 with 61 percent and that Democrat Rep. Grace Napolitano is expected to win easily this year, Roll Call said. There were no nearby districts Dreier could move into without difficulty.
The newspaper said Dreier is the fourth California Republican to announce his retirement in the last two months.
