Rep. Bart Stupak (D., Mich.), the leader of a group of “pro-life” Democrats whose agreement to a compromise on abortion funding in the Affordable Care Act was critical to securing passage of the final bill, has said he will retire from the House at the end of his current term.
He is expected to formally announce his retirement it at a press conference in Michigan at 12:30 P.M.
Stupak is reportedly “exhausted” following the legislative battle over health-care reform, and was facing increasing anger from conservatives in his upper-peninsula district, where he would have faced a primary from former Charlevoix County commissioner Connie Saltonsall.
Though President Obama carried Stupak’s district with a bare 50 percent of the vote, George W. Bush won it both in 2000 and 2004.
UPDATE: On the news of Stupak’s retirement, Cook Political Report shifted the race rating in Stupak’s Michigan district from “solid Democrat” to toss-up.