Republican Rep. Upton unsure if he’ll run again

Rep. Fred Upton (Mich.), one of the 10 House Republicans who voted to impeach former President Trump in the aftermath of the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, revealed on Sunday that he has not yet decided if he will run for reelection in 2022.

Asked by co-host Jake Tapper on CNN’s “State of the Union” if he is committed to running for another term next year, Upton said he is unsure because redistricting is still underway in Michigan.

“Well, we don’t know what our districts look like yet,” Upton said.

“We’re in the midst of looking at maps. Michigan loses a seat. We will evaluate everything probably before the end of the year in terms of making our own decision. We have never made a decision more than a year out,” he added.

If Upton ultimately decides not to run for reelection next year, he will be the third GOP lawmaker who voted for Trump’s second impeachment to announce their retirement this year.

Rep. Anthony Gonzalez (R-Ohio) declared in September that he would not seek a third term in Congress, and Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.) revealed last month that he will not run for reelection when his term expires.

Gonzalez in a statement said it is “clear that the best path for our family is not to seek re-election next fall,” but added that the “current state of our politics, especially many of the toxic dynamics inside our own party, is a significant factor in my decision.”

Kinzinger, in a video announcing his retirement, recalled a moment from his first campaign when he told himself, “If I ever thought it was time to move on from Congress, I would,” adding, “That time is now.”

The Illinois Republican also cited deep political divides in Washington. 

“In this day, to prevail or survive, you must belong to a tribe. Our political parties only survive by appealing to the most motivated and the most extreme elements within it. And the price tag to power has skyrocketed, and fear and distrust has served as an effective strategy to meet that cost,” Kinzinger said.

“Dehumanizing each other has become the norm. We’ve taken it from social media to the streets. We’ve allowed leaders to reach power selling the false premise that strength comes from degrading others and dehumanizing those that look, act or think differently than we do. As a country, we’ve fallen for those lies, and now we face a poisoned country filled with outrage blinding our ability to reach real strength,” he added.

Upton on Sunday also weighed in the importance of congressional subpoenas as the House select committee probing the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol works to compel former Trump officials to comply with requests for testimony and documents, contending that defying the subpoenas illustrates that “you don’t really have an equal branch of government.”

“I’m a former committee chair. I used the subpoena. Even the threat of subpoena was able to get people to come testify, to tell, to give us the facts so we can go after fraud and abuse. If you refuse to participate in that, all of a sudden you don’t really have an equal branch of government trying to get to the answers of this,” Upton told Tapper.