U.S. Rep. Rob Woodall (R) announced Thursday that he would not seek re-election to Georgia’s 7th Congressional District in 2020. In a statement, Woodall referred to the death of his father in 2018, saying, “Doing what you love requires things of you, and having had that family transition made me start to think about those things that I have invested less in because I’ve been investing more here.”

 

Woodall has represented the 7th District since 2010. He won the closest election of his career in 2018, defeating Carolyn Bourdeaux (D) by 419 votes, which was also the U.S. House race with the smallest vote margin last year. Prior to 2018, Woodall had never received less than 60 percent of the vote.

 

After Woodall’s announcement, Bourdeaux said that she would run for the seat again in 2020. The 7th District is based in Gwinnett County and Forsyth County, both suburbs of Atlanta. The district voted for Donald Trump (R) over Hillary Clinton (D) in 2016, 51 percent to 45 percent.

 

Woodall is the third member of the U.S. House to announce that they will not run for re-election after their term ends. The others are Rob Bishop (R), who represents Utah’s 1st Congressional District, and Walter Jones (R), who represents North Carolina’s 3rd Congressional District.