WASHINGTON, April 4: Republican Rep. Tom DeLay of Texas, the House of Representatives’ fallen majority leader, withdrew on Tuesday from a re-election race he was in danger of losing due to scandals and said he would quit the U.S. Congress by mid-June.

“It’s time for me to go do something else,” DeLay told Fox News in a round of interviews a day after he privately told President George W. Bush and House Republican leaders of his decision.

DeLay’s announcement came as a surprise, but a Republican leadership aide said he was “long expected to do the right thing for his party.” Republicans are trying to stave off what is expected to be a strong challenge by Democrats to recapture control of Congress in November elections.

Democrats have sought to make DeLay and Republican ethical scandals an issue in the effort, and Republicans shared DeLay’s hope that a new candidate in his congressional district would give the party a better chance to keep the seat in November.

DeLay blamed politics for his woes, which have included an indictment in Texas on campaign-finance charges last year that forced him to resign as majority leader, and an expanding lobbying scandal that has ensnared two former aides.

His announcement that he was retiring came 12 years after DeLay helped Republicans capture control of the House for the first time in 40 years.—Reuters