Rep. Garret Graves of Louisiana declared on Friday that he would not run for office again after the Supreme Court recently resolved a dispute over redistricting.
Redistricting was mentioned by the Republican congressman in his announcement statement, which also stated that “running for Congress this year does not make sense.”
In a statement sent by his office, he went on, “It is evident that a run in any temporary district will cause actual permanent damage to Louisiana’s great representation in Congress. Campaigning in any of these districts now is not fair to any of the Louisianians who will inevitably be tossed into yet another district next year.”
After winning a landslide victory in 2022 to represent a district that includes areas of southern Louisiana close to Baton Rouge and New Orleans, Graves was re-elected to Congress in 2014.
Graves entered the Congress in 2014. However, the redistricting legal fights cast doubt on his prospects for 2024.
A second congressional district with a majority of Black voters could be used by the state, according to a May Supreme Court ruling. All of the current districts’ boundaries, including Graves’, would change as a result of the redistricting.
The Supreme Court’s decision to stay a lower court’s decision to remove the congressional map with two majority-Black districts—which could help Democrats’ chances in the upcoming election—came about in response to emergency pleas filed by civil rights organizations and Republican state authorities.
With Graves’s declaration, things changed quickly. The 52-year-old congressman expressed faith that his district would stay intact and declared he would seek for reelection as late as last month.
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During his time in Congress, Graves, a member of the Natural Resources and Transportation and Infrastructure Committees, has experienced an incredible adventure.
He nearly instantly rose from being a little-known backbencher to becoming one of the most significant figures on Capitol Hill last year after then-Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., assigned him the difficult task of forging a coalition to raise the debt ceiling and avert a worldwide financial disaster.
McCarthy was well-rewarded for his faith in Graves when the bill was approved and signed into law by President Joe Biden. It established Graves as a pragmatic in a caucus full of ideological agitators.
However, that important partnership was short-lived, as McCarthy was removed from the speakership by conservatives a few months later. Moreover, Graves’ own party has suddenly pulled him out of his district.
In a statement sent to X on Friday, McCarthy lauded Graves and said that his absence “will be a major loss for the conference and the entire House.”
It goes on to say that McCarthy “never would have been elected Speaker without” Graves.
“I will always consider myself lucky to have served with such a loyal friend,” he stated.
Numerous members of the House have declared they will not run for office again this year. Graves is the 25th Republican member of the House to declare they would not run for reelection, either because they are retiring or going after another job. Equal numbers of Democratic members of the House are not running for office again in November.
