Facing Tough Primary, Veteran Rep. Burton Bows Out
FILE - In this March 1, 2011 file photo, Rep. Dan Burton, R-Ind. speaks on Capitol Hill in Washington. Burton says he won't seek re-election to a 16th term. The 73-year-old Burton told reporters Tuesday at the Indiana Statehouse that he wouldn't run again. He planned to announce his decision on the state House floor. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)
-- Updated at 11:35 a.m.
CORRECTION: The previous version of this story incorrectly stated the number of House Democrats who are retiring outright. That number is 11.
Rep. Dan Burton, R-Ind., announced Tuesday on the Indiana Statehouse floor that he will not run for reelection to Congress and will retire at the end of the current session.
"I wanted to come here today to tell you that this will probably be the last time I will be addressing you folks, because I'm planning to not run for Congress again this year and I wanted to in effect end my career where I started because I love this place," Burton said on the Statehouse floor on Tuesday morning. Burton served in the state legislature before he was elected to the U.S. House.
Burton was first elected in 1982 but was facing another serious primary challenge: A poll earlier this month showed Burton narrowly leading a GOP primary field, but only pulling 29 percent support. Burton won a five-way primary in 2010 with just 30 percent of the vote.
The January survey, conducted by the Wilson Perkins Allen Opinion Research (R) for the Campaign for Primary Accountability, showed Burton at 29 percent, former Rep. David McIntosh at 20 percent, 2010 candidate John McGoff at 14 percent, Jack Lugar at 11 percent and former U.S. Attorney Susan Brooks at four percent.
The Indiana primary will be held on May 8.
Burton serves on the House Foreign Affairs Committee and chairs the Europe and Eurasia subcommittee. He also serves on the Oversight and Government Reform Committee.
During the Clinton era, he long insisted that the suicide of White House deputy counsel Vince Foster was a murder, and famously staged a reenactment in his backyard, using a gun and a pumpkin or watermelon-it was never clear which.
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