INDIANAPOLIS -- Rep. Dan Burton, R-5th, announced Tuesday he will not seek re-election to a 16th term in Congress.
Burton broke the news at the Indiana Statehouse in Indianapolis.
"I wanted to come down here today and tell you that I started my career here and it’s been a wonderful run; met presidents, kings, princes, been all over the world," the former state lawmaker said on the House floor. "It’s been an experience that I cherish.
"This will probably be the last time I will be addressing you folks – (I’m) not going to run for Congress again this year," he said.
"I wanted to end my career where it started because I love this place," he told legislators. Burton was in both the Indiana House and the Senate at various times in the late 1960s, 1970s and early 1980s.
The conservative Burton, 73, was first elected to the largely central-Indiana district in 1982 in what has been among the most Republican congressional districts in the nation. He has always won easily in general elections but in recent years faced challenges in Republican primary elections.
Candidates who have announced or filed to run in the May 8 Republican primary include David McIntosh, a former congressman; Susan Brooks, a former U.S. district attorney; John McGoff, a former Marion County coroner; and attorney Jack Lugar.
If he finishes his term, Burton will have been in Congress for 30 years. He is on the House Foreign Affairs Committee and the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.
The 5th District includes Huntington County, which, because of redistricting, will join northeast Indiana’s 3rd District for this year’s primary and general elections.
Washington editor Brian Francisco contributed to this story.
