Republican Rep. Brad Wenstrup, who is leading the House Republican inquiry into the origins of COVID-19, said he would run for reelection next year.
Wenstrup represents Ohio’s second congressional district and was first elected to the House in 2012. He said Thursday in a video posted on X that he would give up spending more time with his family.
Married with two young children, the Cincinnati native is a podiatrist and Army Reserve colonel. As chairman of the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic, Wenstrup conducted an investigation into the origins of the virus and the government’s response.
Wenstrup, who is also a longtime member of the House Intelligence Committee, accused U. S. intelligence agencies of hiding key facts about their investigation into the coronavirus. Republicans on the committee released a report last year saying there are “indications” that the virus may have evolved as a biological weapon at the Wuhan Institute of Virology in China.
However, U. S. officials released an intelligence report in June that rejected some of the questions raised by those who claimed COVID-19 had leaked from a lab, reiterating that U. S. intelligence agencies remained divided over how the pandemic began.
Wenstrup’s announcement came on the same day that another veteran congressman also said he would not seek re-election next year. Derek Kilmer, a Democrat who represents Washington’s 6th District, cited reasons similar to Wenstrup’s for making his decision, pointing to the many Family Occasions he missed because of his paintings in the House.
Kilmer served in the Washington State Legislature and was first elected to his House seat in 2012.
They are among nearly two dozen MPs who have announced they will run again in 2024.