Rep. Garrett Graves of Louisiana announced Friday that he will not seek reelection following a redistricting battle recently decided by the Supreme Court.
In a statement announcing his decision, the Republican said redistricting meant “it doesn’t make sense for me to run for Congress this year.”
“It is clear that running in provisional districts would do real and permanent damage to Louisiana’s good representation in the Legislature,” he continued in a statement confirmed by his office to NBC News. “Campaigning in these districts now would not be fair to any Louisianans who will inevitably be thrown into a different district next year.”
First elected to Congress in 2014, Graves was overwhelmingly re-elected in 2022 to represent his district, which includes parts of southern Louisiana near Baton Rouge and New Orleans, but a legal battle over redistricting has cast doubt on his chances of winning in 2024.
The Supreme Court ruled in May that states can use congressional maps that create second, majority-Black districts, a redistricting move that would change the boundaries of existing districts, including the one Graves represents.
The ruling came after civil rights groups and Republican state officials filed an emergency petition asking the Supreme Court to block a lower court decision that would strike down congressional redistricting that included two majority-Black districts, a ruling that could have boosted Democrats’ prospects this fall.
Graves’ announcement marks a sharp about-face. As recently as last month, the 52-year-old congressman had stressed he would seek re-election and was optimistic his district would hold on to its title.
“The community where I live, the community where I was born and raised, is a community of interest. You can’t divide that,” Graves told NBC News on May 7, just days before the Supreme Court’s decision. “We’re going to continue to represent it.”
Rep. Graves, who sits on the Transportation and Infrastructure and Natural Resources committees, has made impressive strides during his tenure in Congress.
He went from a near unknown to one of the most important figures in Congress almost overnight last year when then-House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) gave him the daunting task of building a coalition to raise the debt ceiling and prevent a global financial crisis.
McCarthy’s faith in Graves was rewarded when the bill passed and was signed into law by President Joe Biden. The bill earned Graves a reputation as a pragmatist in a caucus filled with firebrands.
But that crucial alliance didn’t last long, and conservatives ousted McCarthy from his speaker position a few months later. Now, Graves has been pulled from the race by his own party.
McCarthy praised Graves on Friday, saying in a statement posted to X that his absence “will be a great loss to Congress and the entire House.”
“Without Graves I would never have been elected chairman,” McCarthy added.
“I will always consider myself fortunate to have served alongside such loyal friends,” he wrote.
Graves is the 25th Republican member of the House of Representatives to announce that he will not seek reelection this year, citing retirement or taking up other positions, and joins an equal number of House Democrats who are not seeking reelection in November.
