Former President Donald Trump couldn't be happier that Michigan Rep. Fred Upton will not seek reelection to Congress.
The longtime Republican announced Tuesday that he will not run for a 19th term on Capitol Hill.
"Upton Quits!" Trump crowed in a statement. "4 down and 6 to go. Others losing badly, who's next?"
Upton, 68, was one of the 10 Republicans who voted to impeach Trump over the Jan. 6, 2021 breach of the Capitol building.
Joining Reps. John Katko of New York, Anthony Gonzalez of Ohio, and Adam Kinzinger of Illinois, Upton is the fourth Republican who supported Trump's impeachment to announce their retirement.
"Even the best stories [have] a last chapter," Upton said on the House floor. "This is it for me."
Another Michigan Republican who voted for Trump's impeachment, Rep. Peter Meijer, told The New York Times that some within the GOP believed the former president's power would fade once he left office.
"There's been this waiting game and an arbitrage between an individual's political future and the trajectory of that guy, assuming the apex has passed," Meijer said, referring to Trump. "The view among some was that this would be essentially a self-correcting issue.
"I think that's proven overly optimistic."
In December, Upton told CNN things in Washington had changed in the aftermath of Jan. 6.
"You've got metal detectors now going on the House floor," he said then. "We get really nasty threats at home. The tone gets, you know, tougher and tougher, and it's a pretty toxic place. I've never seen anything like this before."
Still, in February, Upton ran a campaign ad that seemed to suggest he was likely to run.
The recent redistricting process, however, put him and Republican Rep. Bill Huizenga in the same GOP-leaning district.
Huizenga voted against impeachment and was also endorsed by Trump.
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