Trey Gowdy to retire

Rep. Trey Gowdy, a rising star among conservative Republicans, said Wednesday he will retire from politics and return to being a lawyer.

“I will not be filing for re-election to Congress nor seeking any other political or elected office; instead I will be returning to the justice system,” he said. “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. As I look back on my career, it is the jobs that both seek and reward fairness that are most rewarding.”

His decision was a surprise, given that he only recently ascended to the chairmanship of the House’s chief investigative committee, giving him a wide-ranging platform to expose government wrongdoing.

The South Carolina Republican also led the investigation into the 2012 Benghazi terrorist attack and the response by then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

That inquiry and his fierce style of questioning at congressional hearings, honed by years as a prosecutor, made Mr. Gowdy a star among conservative grassroots activists.

Mr. Gowdy’s district is considered safe Republican territory, and it’s likely he would have held it for as long as he’d wanted.

He becomes the latest in a string of committee chairmen to leave, in what Democrats see as signs of GOP jumping a sinking ship.

Mr. Gowdy said he timed his announcement to give others a chance to seek his seat.

Sen. Tim Scott, a South Carolina Republican who sat with Mr. Gowdy at Tuesday’s State of the Union speech, said he would miss his friend’s presence at the Capitol.

“I want to thank @TGowdySC not just for his service to the Upstate, or his love for South Carolina, or his commitment to justice and the truth, but for being the honest, good hearted man I know he is and will continue to be,” Mr. Scott said on Twitter.