Aug. 10 (UPI) -- U.S. Rep. Ron Kind announced Tuesday that he will not seek re-election in 2022.
The Wisconsin Democrat, speaking at a press conference alongside his wife and children, said, "I've run out of gas," after 13 terms in office.
"Representing the people at home has been the honor of my life -- but I never intended it to be the honor of my entire life," he wrote. "For 26 years, I've flown to and from Washington, D.C., and traveled the 18 counties of the most beautiful congressional district in the nation almost every week."
Kind's retirement deals a blow to Democrats who risk losing their House majority next November and opens up a seat on the House Ways and Means Committee.
Last fall, Kind narrowly defeated Republican challenger Derrick Van Orden by less than 3 percentage points after winning by 20 points the prior election cycle.
Van Orden, who plans to run again, said in a statement Tuesday that Kind's retirement "is indicative of what I hear every day as I travel the 3rd District: Wisconsinites want a change."
The 3rd Congressional District, which includes southwestern Wisconsin, was one of few areas where support for former President Donald Trump increased between the 2016 and 2020 presidential races.
Other swing-district Democrats, including Reps. Ann Kirkpatrick, D-Ariz., Cheri Bustos, D-Ill., and Conor Lamb, D-Pa., have announced they will not seek re-election in the House.
