WASHINGTON _ U.S. Rep. Ed Royce will not run for re-election, he announced Monday.
Royce, a California Republican who was first elected to Congress in 1992, is chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee and is known as a hawk and a free trade advocate.
He is the first California Republican to announce a retirement in what's expected to be a tough year for the GOP at the ballot box.
"In this final year of my Foreign Affairs Committee chairmanship, I want to focus fully on the urgent threats facing our nation, including: the brutal, corrupt and dangerous regimes in Pyongyang and Tehran, Vladimir Putin's continued efforts to weaponize information to fracture western democracies, and growing terrorist threats in Africa and Central Asia," Royce said in a statement Monday.
"With this in mind, and with the support of my wife Marie, I have decided not to seek re-election in November."
He had already drawn challenges from five Democrats, including from physician Mai-Khanh Tran, former Obama administration official Sam Jammal and lottery winner and philanthropist Gil Cisneros.
Royce, whose district is largely in the 2018 battleground of Orange County, was among the House lawmakers considered vulnerable in the midterms, and winning his seat is key to the Democrats' attempts to win back control of the U.S. House.
