Arkansas Republican Rep. Rick Crawford on Wednesday dropped out of the race for Transportation and Infrastructure Committee chair, a day before he was set to argue his case before the Republican Steering Committee — leaving the path wide open for reigning Chair Sam Graves of Missouri to run the show next Congress.
Crawford’s decision comes a week after the Steering panel chose to grant Graves a rare waiver allowing him to bypass term limits that preclude Republican lawmakers in the House from serving a fourth term as chair or ranking member.
After the waiver was granted and following discussions with members of the steering panel, Crawford, who had been running for the position since March, decided to relinquish his bid, Crawford announced in a statement.
“After discussions with some of my colleagues who are well-respected leaders in our Conference, I have decided to forego running for T&I chairman this year,” Crawford said, adding it was in the best interest of the conference to drop out.
