Rep. Brian Higgins announced he will resign in February after winning 10 terms representing a heavily Democratic district in Western New York.
“I’ve always been a little impatient, and that trait has helped us deliver remarkable progress for this community,” Higgins, 64, said in a statement Sunday. “But the pace in Washington, D.C. can be slow and frustrating, especially this year. Therefore, I have made the difficult decision to leave Congress and explore other ways I can build up and serve Buffalo and Western New York.”
At a news conference Sunday in Buffalo, Higgins said Congress changed while he was there.
“We’re spending more time doing less, and the American people aren’t being served,” he said, according to a report by The Associated Press.
Published reports on Friday said Higgins will become president of a performing arts center in Buffalo, N.Y. Higgins is the third House member since Friday to announce his departure, with Ohio Republican Brad Wenstrup and Washington Democrat Derek Kilmer saying they would finish their terms but not run again next year. West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin III, a Democrat whose vulnerable seat is up next year, also said Friday he would not run again.
Accomplishments Higgins cited in his announcement included flight safety measures, funding to fight cancer and “record bipartisan infrastructure and Great Lakes investments.” A member of the Budget and Ways and Means committees, Higgins has focused on issues including taxes affecting the U.S. relationship with Canada. He has also served as co-chair of the Northern Border Caucus and the Canada-United States Inter-Parliamentary Group.
After Democrats won House control in the 2018 election, Higgins was part of a group that had urged California’s Nancy Pelosi not to seek another term as the party’s leader, but he capitulated after Pelosi pledged to push an infrastructure package in the new Congress.
Massachusetts Rep. Richard E. Neal, the ranking Democrat on Ways and Means, issued a statement praising his colleague.
“No one has worked harder for the people of Western New York than Congressman Brian Higgins,” Neal said. “For nearly two decades, he has dedicated every day to creating a better life for his constituents and the American people.”
Higgins is the son of a Buffalo council member and won a seat on that body himself at age 28. Higgins also served in the state legislature before winning his first House election in 2004 by a narrow 1.4-point margin. He won his latest term in the 26th District by 28 points. Inside Elections with Nathan L. Gonzales rates the race in the district next year Solid Democratic.
“It was nineteen years ago this month that I was first elected to serve in Congress and doing this work has truly been the honor of a lifetime,” Higgins said. “I’ve never lingered on Capitol Hill, I go there on a mission to change my community and return home on the first flight each week because being in Western New York, talking to people here, provides an urgent reminder of what I was sent to Washington to do.”
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