Several weeks after Rep. John Conyers (D-Michigan) admitted to settling a sexual harassment case while simultaneously denying the claims fueling it, the long-serving member of the U.S. Congress announced he would not seek reelection in 2018. Michigan state senator Ian Conyers, the grandson of the U.S. representative’s brother, told the New York Times his relation “is not resigning,” but did admit “[h]e is going to retire.” Following a recent health scare related to stress, the 88-year-old politician’s doctor apparently told him “the rigor of another campaign would be too much for him just in terms of his health.”
The younger Ian Conyers went on to say the congressman “still enjoys healthy support in our district,” which he insists is “ready to support our dean and to support our family as we continue to fight, as we have for leading up to a century, for people from Southeast Michigan.” Even so, when it came to the subject of the sexual harassment and assault allegations Rep. Conyers is facing, his younger relation remained cautious:
He said he believed his great-uncle should have due process but stopped short of defending him.
“I stand with my uncle in terms of his belief of no specific wrongdoing,” Mr. Conyers said. “However, those things need to have their day in court.”
The younger Conyers also told the Times he is “absolutely” going to file for the congressman’s seat when the time comes. Meanwhile, Rep. Conyers will officially announce his retirement on Tuesday’s edition of the The Mildred Gaddis Show, a local radio program in Michigan.
(Via the New York Times)