Trump Critic Fred Upton to Retire From Congress

Rep. Fred Upton (R-Mich.) speaks to reporters outside the White House in Washington in a file photograph. Susan Walsh/AP Photo

Rep. Fred Upton (R-Mich.), one of only a handful of Republicans in the House who voted to impeach President Donald Trump, has announced that he will not seek reelection in November.

Upton announced the decision in a Tuesday speech on the House floor.

“Even the best stories have a last chapter. This is it for me,” Upton said. “I’ve done the zillions of airline miles back and forth. I’ve signed over a million letters, cast more votes while in the chamber here and accomplished what I set out to do with more unfinished work still yet to come.”

Due to redistricting after the 2020 census, Upton was facing a tight race with another Republican.

Upton, who is a part of the centrist Problem Solvers Caucus, may have faced a steep challenge in a GOP match up due to his decision to vote for Trump’s impeachment.

In his address to the House, Upton called for bipartisanship.

“Throughout my career, I’ve leaned on lessons from my Reagan White House days,” Upton said. “Reagan worked both sides of the aisle to get things done, caring less about who got the credit. And I made a promise that such a principle would be my guiding light. Especially in these days of divided government, that is the only way one can actually get legislation enacted.”

“Hopefully civility and bipartisanship versus discord, can rule, not rue, the day,” he added.

Following Upton’s announcement, Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-Mich.) praised Upton as a “devoted” lawmaker.

“He has always put the people he served first,” Dingell said. “To him, bipartisan and compromise are not forbidden words. Fred knew well that if we are going to deliver real solutions for the American people, we need to come together and listen to all perspectives, no matter how complicated the issue might be.”

In a statement, Trump applauded Upton’s decision to retire, the most recent in a long line of retirements by Republicans who voted to impeach the former president.

“UPTON QUITS!” Trump said. “4 down and 6 to go. Others losing badly, who’s next?”

Several Republicans who voted to impeach, including Reps. Anthony Gonzalez (R-Ohio), Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.), and John Katko (R-N.Y.) announced earlier during the 117th Congress that they would not seek reelection in 2022.

Republicans who voted for impeachment but have not yet retired are facing tough reelection battles.

Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.), who serves alongside Kinzinger on the controversial January 6 Committee, has faced especially dire prospects.

In a Jan. 22 straw poll, 71 Wyoming GOP activists voted for their top pick for the GOP nominee in the one district state. According to the Casper Star-Tribune, 59 votes were cast for Trump-backed challenger Harriet Hageman. Cheney, by contrast, received only six. The other votes were cast for Wyoming state lawmakers.

Adding to her troubles, Cheney was censured by the Republican National Committee alongside Kinzinger for her role on the Jan. 6 committee, depriving her of the party’s political and financial support.

Many Republicans see the retirement as another sign that the tide is turning against Trump critics, but some have pushed back against this framing.

In a Twitter post Doug Heye, who has worked for the GOP in positions on and off of Capitol Hill, said that the press is “making the obvious Trump connection because of impeachment vote more than the blindingly obvious fact that incumbents have their districts massively changed in redistricting years, as did Upton.”

“Not *everything* is all about Trump,” he added.

In comments made on March 31, Trump indicated that he feels confident that the two are linked, and predicted that more retirements are still to come.

“I was just telling John, the good news is six out of the ten are gone or effectively gone,” Trump said.