The election for Minnesota's 6th district representative won't happen until 2014 but Jim Graves is already claiming victory in the contest and dropping out of the race. Graves' goal wasn't to represent his state in Washington D.C., it was to make sure that Michelle Bachmann doesn't return for a fifth term in D.C., according to MinnPost.
"Basically, after all that's gone on, and with Michelle Bachmann now stepping down, I've been talking to my friends and family and frankly, the feeling is, 'Mission Accomplished,'" Graves told MinnPost. "She wasn't representing the people of the 6th district appropriately, and now she won't be representing them. There's no way anyone can run and win who would be worse than Michelle Bachmann. So we accomplished that task."
Three years after launching the House Tea Party Caucus Michelle Bachmann announced that she will not be running for reelection on Wednesday. Bachmann barely won reelection last year in a hard fought campaign against Graves. Recently Bachmann's campaign has come under the scrutiny of the FBI and congressional ethics investigators, according to the Washington Post.
Graves would not claim direct responsibility for Bachmann dropping out of the race in his discussion with Eric Black of MinnPost.
"I don't know everything that went into her decision," Graves said. "Clearly, it was going to be a competitive race. All through Memorial Day weekend, she was in the district, working the crowds. Obviously something happened to cause her to believe that she shouldn't run again. We're very happy she dropped out. The country can do better."
Political experts have speculated that Graves would have had a lot of trouble raising money for his campaign once Bachmann decided not to run. In part because it is a heavily Republican district but also because Graves was no longer facing a marquee candidate, according to the Washington Post.
The head of Minnesota's Republican Party, Keith Downey, was very confident that his party would not lose the seat in the upcoming election.
"We have a really good chance for a Republican candidate to win that race in the general election in 2014, and apparently Jim Graves saw that as well," Downey told the Washington Post.
In a statement released to the press Graves reiterated his belief that the race wasn't really about the kind of candidate he was, instead it was focused on making sure Bachmann was defeated.
"This was never about Jim Graves; this was about challenging the ineffective leadership and extreme ideology of Michelle Bachmann on behalf of those she represents," the statement read.
