Kirkpatrick, who is serving in her fifth term, said as Arizona “continues to grow, I hope our representation does as well.”
“I look forward to seeing new and diverse perspectives emerge to lead Arizona forward,” she said.
She told the newspaper that she’s “always been a proponent of term limits” and that “I’m sort of term-limiting myself.”
She also said that she would like to spend more time with her three grandsons.
Kirkpatrick was first elected to Congress in 2008 to represent Arizona’s 1st Congressional District, a district that Republicans had handily won in previous elections. She lost a bid for reelection in 2010 to GOP Rep. Paul Gosar, only to win election to the district in 2012 against a different Republican opponent. She was able to hold onto her seat in the 2014 midterms, despite the tough political climate that swept similar Democrats out of office nationwide and without backing down from her support of the Affordable Care Act.
She unsuccessfully challenged Republican Sen. John McCain for his seat in 2016 but gave the late Arizona senator what was viewed as the toughest reelection fight of his career.
Arizona voters sent Kirkpatrick back to Washington in the 2018 midterm elections. She won reelection to represent Arizona’s 2nd District, the southern part of the state bordering Mexico — the second time she flipped a seat that was formerly held by Republicans. She won her fifth term to Congress in 2020.
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