House Foreign Affairs Committee chairman to retire

WASHINGTON—Rep. Ed Royce, R-Calif., chairman of the influential House Foreign Affairs Committee, announced Monday he would not seek reelection in November. “In this final year of my Foreign Affairs Committee chairmanship, I want to focus fully on the urgent threats facing our nation,” Royce said in a statement. “With this in mind, and with the support of my wife Marie, I have decided not to seek reelection in November.” Royce, 66, first joined Congress in 1993 and took the gavel of the Foreign Affairs Committee in 2013. His district is a prime target in the Democrats’ campaign to regain House seats in 2018. In 2016, Hillary Clinton defeated President Donald Trump in Royce’s 39th District by more than 8 percentage points. Royce spent more than $3.5 million to retain his seat that year. He is in his final year of the GOP term-limited committee chairmanship. Royce is the seventh House committee chair to announce plans to leave Congress at the end of this term. During this congressional session, more than 50 lawmakers have decided to resign, retire, or pursue another office.