CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – Rep. Tom Garrett, a Republican who represents Virginia's 5th district in the U.S. House of Representatives, announced he plans to seek re-election this year.
Garrett made the announcement in Washington, D.C. Thursday afternoon.
“Yesterday, out of frustration, I stated, 'I don’t want to do this anymore.' In the last 24 hours, (I) had time for a lot of thoughts and prayers about the situation. With that, (there's) no way in heck that I won’t be back in 2019. Too darn much at stake,” said Garrett.
He was first elected to the seat in November 2018, beating his Democratic challenger Jane Dittmar and capturing 58.2 percent (207,758) of the vote.
The 5th District covers much of Central and Southside Virginia.
Leslie Cockburn, Garrett's Democratic challenger, said the announcement hasn't changed the way she will run her campaign.
"I'm not seeing the kind of commitment that our representative should have in Washington. I don't think Washington is the place to be waffling about whether or not you want this job," said Cockburn.