Rep. Trey Radel (R-FL) has stated that he will resign from Congress effective 6:30 PM ET on Monday. The embattled Republican Congressman has been an embarrassment to the GOP ever since he got arrested buying cocaine from an undercover agent in Washington, D.C. in November of last year. Radel went to rehab in the hopes that the controversy would die down over time. However, it appears that GOP leadership made it clear that he would not find any support from them in the future and decided to just call it quits now.
Radel drafted a resignation letter to Speaker of the House John Boehner (R-OH) that was delivered to Boehner’s office Monday morning. You can read the letter in full here. He also included short letters of resignation to the Secretary of State of Florida as well as the state’s Governor, Rick Scott.
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Radel did return to Capitol Hill after his stint in rehab and attempted to seek forgiveness from his colleagues. He pointed out that he had long suffered from alcohol abuse and that he would be participating in Alcoholics Anonymous moving forward. But, it was apparent that Republicans wanted him gone sooner rather than later. In his Congressional district, a SuperPAC was formed by rich Republicans in order to defeat Radel in the primary. It was almost a given that Radel wouldn’t hold on to the seat.
The district is solidly red as Radel won the 2012 election by 26 points. However, a scandal like this could have made a Democratic candidate seem a lot more appealing if Radel stubbornly held out and tried to keep his seat. Obviously, members of the party told Radel that it is better to quit now in order to save the party any further embarrassment come election time. If somehow Radel was able to survive the primary, or try to submit his name as an independent if he lost, there would be a decent chance the GOP could lose the House seat. They just could not allow that to happen.
Justin Baragona is the Managing Editor at Politicus Sports as well as Senior Editor at PoliticusUSA. He was a political writer for 411Mania.com before joining PoliticusUSA. Politically, Justin considers himself a liberal but also a realist and pragmatist. Currently, Justin lives in St. Louis, MO and is married. Besides writing, he also runs his own business after spending a number of years in the corporate world. You can follow Justin on Twitter either with his personal handle (@justinbaragona) or the Sports site’s (@PoliticusSports).
