Tea Party Rep. Tim Griffin (Ark.) will not run for reelection next year
Tim Griffin won’t seek reelection
BY ED O'KEEFE
October 21 at 9:37 am
Rep. Tim Griffin (R-Ark.) will not run for reelection next year, he announced Monday, meaning there will be at least two open House seats up for grabs in Arkansas next year.
Griffin, 45, was first elected to the House as part of the 2010 tea party wave and had been thought of a possible candidate for statewide office. He served as an interim U.S. attorney for Arkansas from 2006 to 2007, but was never confirmed by the U.S. Senate in the wake of the Bush-era U.S. attorney firings scandal.
In a statement issued Monday morning, Griffin said it was an "honor" to serve in Congress, but that he made the decision with his family and wife, Elizabeth, to not run again. "It has been an agonizing and difficult decision involving much prayer, thought and discussion. We have decided that now is the time for me to focus intently on my top priority, my family, as Elizabeth and I raise our two young children."
During the government shutdown and the subsequent standoff between the House and Senate, Griffin was seen pushing a stroller with one of his young children in and out of closed-door meetings with the House Republican Conference. Griffin's 2nd Congressional District encompasses part of Little Rock and its suburbs. His decision opens up yet another GOP-held House seat in the Natural State next year. Rep. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) is running against Sen. Mark Pryor (D-Ark.) in the Senate race and former FEMA administrator James Lee Witt has expressed an interest in seeking the seat.
Rep. Greg Walden (R-Ore.), chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee, called Griffin "the ultimate team player" in a statement, and said he'll miss his colleague "tremendously." He also vowed to ensure that another Republican is elected to fill the seat next year.
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http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-politics/wp/2013/10/21/tim-griffin-wont-seek-reelection/?tid=up_next
= new reply since forum marked as read
According to today's Dem-Gaz, there were/are several Democrats who were going to run against him, so maybe he sees which way the wind is blowing, which is a Democratic sweep of the House. This was always a Democratic seat and I refuse to believe that there weren't shenanigans in the last election on him winning.
Here's to turning the state blue again 
Tim Griffin, Arkansas GOP Congressman, Not Running For Reelection
Rep. Tim Griffin (R-Ark.) announced Monday that he will not run for a third term.
"We have decided that now is the time for me to focus intently on my top priority, my family, as Elizabeth and I raise our two young children,” he told Talk Business Arkansas. “To that end, I will not seek reelection to a third term. I will complete my second term, but I have made no decision as to my plans after Congress except that I will continue in public service, including as a lieutenant colonel in the Army Reserve."
The announcement comes as something of a surprise, considering that Griffin appeared to have a full-fledged reelection campaign going. He raised over $208,000 in the third quarter of 2013 for his reelection and had over $540,000 in cash on hand, despite having no announced Democratic opponent.
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Full article here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/10/21/tim-griffin-reelection_n_4135542.html
Tim Griffin Wiki BIO: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tim_Griffin
p.s. Seems to me that a lot of the time in the past when someone has said that they are not going to run because they are going to 'focus on their family' not long after that usually some sort of scandal hits the news.
