Representative Trey Gowdy, chairman of the House Oversight committee, will not run for re-election this November, he announced Wednesday, becoming the latest high-profile Republican to retire from Congress.
Gowdy, R-SC, a former prosecutor, said he will be returning to the justice system instead.
"I will not be filing for re-election to Congress nor seeking any other political or elected office," Gowdy wrote in the statement. "Whatever skills I may have are better utilized in a courtroom than in Congress, and I enjoy our justice system more than our political system."
Gowdy took over chairmanship of the oversight committee after Republican Jason Chaffetz retired last year.
Gowdy previously was chairman of the House Select Committee on Benghazi.
The Benghazi panel revealed the existence of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's private email server and controversies involving it proved to be damaging to her failed 2016 presidential campaign.
Gowdy was elected in the 2010 Tea Party wave that returned control of the House to Republicans.
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