Rep. Ilhan Omar celebrated Rep. Peter King’s upcoming retirement, responding to the New Yorker’s announcement by writing, "good riddance."
Omar, D-Minn., tweeted her thoughts on King, R-N.Y., shortly after the powerful 14-term congressman who once chaired the House Committee on Homeland Security, announced Monday he will not seek reelection in 2020.
"Peter King is an Islamophobe who held McCarthyite hearings targeting American Muslims, said 'there are too many mosques in this country' and blamed Eric Garner for his own death at the hands of police," she wrote.
"Good riddance."
REP. PETER KING, R-NY, WILL NOT SEEK REELECTION IN 2020
The "mosques" comment was made to Politico in 2007; his office said the media outlet took his remarks out of context, saying they referred to mosques that failed to cooperate with law enforcement.
On Garner, who died soon after a police officer put him in a chokehold, King told CNN in 2014, "You had a 350-pound person who was resisting arrest. The police were trying to bring him down as quickly as possible. If he had not had asthma and a heart condition and was so obese, almost definitely he would not have died." He also tweeted, "Compassion for the Garner family." Police fired the officer this past August.
King, in a statement Monday, said his "prime reason" for retiring "was that after 28 years of spending four days a week in Washington, D.C., it is time to end the weekly commute and be home in Seaford," on Long Island.
"This was not an easy decision. But there is a season for everything and Rosemary and I decided that, especially since we are both in good health, it is time to have the flexibility to spend more time with our children and grandchildren," he said, referring to his wife. He added, "My daughter’s recent move to North Carolina certainly accelerated my thinking."
REPUBLICANS FACE WAVE OF HOUSE RETIREMENTS
The 75-year-old lawmaker said his decades in Congress have been "an extraordinary experience." He currently has served as a member of the Homeland Security Committee, which he served as chair from 2005-2006 and again from 2011-2012, among other assignments.
"Politically I will miss the energy and dynamism of a reelection campaign especially since my polling numbers are as strong as they have ever been and I have more than $1 million in campaign funds," King wrote in his statement. He said he will continue to be "active politically."
He added, "In the coming weeks and during the next year I intend to vote against President Trump's impeachment and will support the president’s bid for reelection."
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King is one of several Republicans -- four senators and 17 other House members -- who have announced they're not seeking reelection.
Fox News' Nicole Darrah and Chad Pergram contributed to this report.