REP. BOBBY RUSH TO RETIRE AFTER 15 TERMS.

Rep. Bobby Rush, D-Ill., the former Black Panther, ex-Chicago alderman, member of Congress and a minister, told the Chicago Sun-Times on Monday that he will not seek another term.

Rush, first elected to Congress in 1992, said in an interview he intends to stay active in his ministry and find ways to use his remarkable life story — a trajectory from a 1960s radical to House member — to inspire younger generations.

Since his first election to Congress when he toppled a Democratic incumbent in the primary, Rush, with enormous name recognition from his Black Panther days, has kept an iron grip on his first congressional district, famously defeating then state Sen. Barack Obama in the 2000 Democratic primary.

Rush, 75, has won each primary and general election by overwhelming margins in the district, anchored on Chicago’s South Side and running through the city’s southern suburbs.

David Mark of the Washington Examiner notes that Rush “is the 20th House member not seeking reelection or running for another office. Sixteen are Democrats and four are Republicans.”

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(Via Newsalert.)