Longtime GOP Rep. Peter King Won’t Seek Reelection

New York City’s ABC News affiliate reports:

New York Congressman Peter King announced Monday morning he will not be seeking re-election in 2020. “After 28 years of spending 4 days a week in Washington, D.C., it is time to end the weekly commute and be home in Seaford,” the longtime GOP representative said in a statement posted to his Facebook page.

“My time in Congress has been an extraordinary experience – an experience I wouldn’t have even dared imagine when I was a kid growing up in Sunnyside or a college student loading and unloading trucks and freight cars at Manhattan’s West Side Railway Terminal,” he continued, looking fondly back on his years in politics.

The Washington Post reports:

“Politically I will miss the energy and dynamism of a re-election campaign especially since my polling numbers are as strong as they have ever been and I have more than $1 million in campaign funds,” King said in his statement.

King joins a growing number of Republican members of Congress who have announced retirements, resigned or said they will seek another office next year.

Prior to his announcement, 19 House Republicans had said they would not seek reelection, according to a tally by the House Press Gallery. By comparison, eight Democrats have announced they will not seek reelection.