Congressman Jason Chaffetz (R-UT) has announced that he will not seek reelection in 2018.
Chaffetz made the announcement in a Facebook post (below) in which he thanked his constituents for his time in office. He stressed that he had no ulterior motives, only that he believes in serving for a limited time and has emphasized that by advocating “Get in, serve, and get out.”
Chaffetz is the chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, the branch of the House of Representatives tasked with oversight of the federal government.
During his tenure on the Committee, Chaffetz has led investigations into the use of official time, the use of personal email accounts by government officials, Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server, and also has called for the current IRS commissioner to be removed from office.
More recently, Chaffetz introduced a resolution to move federal agencies out of Washington, DC, saying that government should be closer to the people that it regulates.
Future Election Bids?
Chaffetz has secured some domain names which suggest that he may be planning to run for other positions in government in the future.
The Hill reports that three domains are tied to Chaffetz: JasonForGovernor.com, Jason2028.com and JasonChaffetz2028.com. The latter two domains indicate the possibility of a future run for president while the former clearly suggests he may seek to be governor of Utah. As of the time of this writing, JasonForGovernor.com redirects to his Congressional campaign website while the other two domains go to registrar landing pages.
Early Departure?
Chaffetz is now saying that he might not finish out his current term in Congress. After his announcement on Wednesday that he will not seek reelection, Chaffetz told KSL Newsradio in a text message after an interview with the station, “I will continue to weigh the options, but I may depart early.”
