Stupak Leaving Congress Next January

Just 2 days ago, the U.P.’s voice in Congress said he probably was going to run for re-election.

But now Congressman Bart Stupak says he won’t be running for a 10th term.

CNN, Fox News Channel and the Washington Post came to NMU today to hear him say that himself.

That national interest was because of the fire Stupak has drawn since voting for health care reform.

After the bill passed, he felt his main goal in Congress had been accomplished after 18 years of effort.

Stupak says there are 8 or 9 Democratic hopefuls that he’s confident could do a good job in the Congressional seat.

He says he wanted to make the announcement now so that, if they wanted to run, those 8 or 9 people can have some time to organize a campaign before the May 11th filing deadline.

He made the decision to move on from Congress on Wednesday night.

Stupak and his family went to Indianapolis last weekend to watch Michigan State play in the Final Four.

While they were there, they discussed something that comes up every year or two — whether Stupak had a good reason to run for re-election.

His son convinced him that with health care reform accomplished, it was a good time to move on.

Stupak says he still has lots of things he wants to accomplish in Washington before his term runs out next January and he’s concentrating on those for now.

He says he doesn’t know yet what he’ll do after that.