GOP Rep. Phil Roe won’t seek reelection

Rep. Phil Roe (R-Tenn.) announced Friday that he will not seek reelection, making the six-term lawmaker the latest House Republican to head for the doors.

“After prayerful consideration, I have decided to retire at the end of the 116th Congress,” Roe said in a statement.

“Serving East Tennesseans these past 11 years has been the honor of my life, and I will be forever grateful for the trust my friends and neighbors put in me to represent them,” said Roe, the top Republican on the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee. “As someone who practiced medicine for over 30 years, I said I would serve five or six terms because I never intended this job to be a second career.”

The Johnson City Press reported that Roe had initially pledged to serve no more than 10 years in Congress.

Roe represents a heavily Republican district, one that President Trump won with more than 75 percent of the vote in 2016.

He is one of more than two dozen House GOP lawmakers to say they have chosen not to seek another term.

In his statement, Roe said he will finish his term “strongly for the East Tennesseans” and work “with President Trump in favor of the free-market, conservative policies so many of us hold dear.”

Updated at 11:23 a.m.