WASHINGTON — Representative Sean P. Duffy, Republican of Wisconsin and one of the most recognizable faces of the Tea Party wave of 2010, announced on Monday that he planned to resign from Congress next month, citing health complications of a baby he and his wife are expecting in October.
The imminent departure of Mr. Duffy is another blow to the Republican Party’s uphill struggle to rebuild after crushing losses that swept them from power in the House. The announcement by Mr. Duffy, a former county prosecutor better known for his turn in the late 1990s as a star of the MTV reality show “The Real World,” follows a rash of retirements that have underscored the challenges and tribulations of serving in the minority.
For Mr. Duffy, the decision was deeply personal, he said in a Facebook post on Monday. The lawmaker, the father of eight children with his wife Rachel Campos-Duffy, said they had recently learned that their ninth baby, due in October, would suffer from “complications, including a heart condition.”
“With much prayer, I have decided that this is the right time for me to take a break from public service in order to be the support my wife, baby and family need right now,” Mr. Duffy wrote. “It is not an easy decision — because I truly love being your congressman — but it is the right decision for my family, which is my first love and responsibility.”
The decision is expected to trigger a special election, to be set by Wisconsin’s Democratic governor, Tony Evers.
Yet his departure is unlikely to tip the political scales: Mr. Duffy’s northern Wisconsin district, once a competitive one, is now regarded as solidly Republican. Mr. Duffy won re-election there by about 20 percentage points last fall, and President Trump had a 20-point advantage there in 2016.