April 28 (UPI) — U.S. Rep. Gerry Connolly said Monday that his health has pushed him to not seek re-election next year and he will “soon” step back as top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee.
“The sun is setting on my time in public service, and this will be my last term in Congress,” Connolly, D-Va., wrote in a letter to his constituents.
Connolly, 75, also revealed that his cancer had returned.
“After grueling treatments, we’ve learned that the cancer, while initially beaten back, has now returned,” he said, adding that he will do “everything possible to continue to represent you and thank you for your grace.”
Connolly, elected to Congress in 2008, revealed that he had esophageal cancer in November 2024 and that he would promptly undergo chemo treatment.
“When I announced my diagnosis six months ago, I promised transparency,” he continued.
On Monday, he stated that he will “soon” be “stepping back” as ranking member of the powerful House Oversight Committee.
He served on the Fairfax County board of supervisors from 1995-2003, was board chair from 2003 until he took his seat in Congress in 2009 and currently sits on the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
In December, Connolly beat Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., in the Oversight Committee bid to replace Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., who moved on as ranking Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee.
It put him in line to be chair if Democrats take back a House majority in the 2026 mid-term election.
“With no rancor and a full heart, I move into this final chapter full of pride in what we’ve accomplished together over 30 years,” Connolly wrote in his statement.
December’s committee vote illustrated growing tension over an ongoing generational split in the Democratic Party.
“I’m confident House Dems will find a way to keep the women who is drawing crowds of tens of thousands of people across the country from being chair of the Oversight Committee,” Joe Calvello, a former top aide to Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson and Sen. John Fetterman, D-Penn., posted Monday afternoon on X in a nod to AOC’s national “Fighting Oligarchy” tour with Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt.