Hours after posting on social media about her last day as regional HUD administrator, former Irving Mayor Beth Van Duyne says she's running for U.S. Congress.
Van Duyne made the announcement on Facebook and Twitter just after 5 p.m.
"I want you all to know I am running for the United States Congress, District 24. Whew! That is an amazing sentence to even type!" Van Duyne said.
Texas District 24, which has been reliably red, is the district being vacated by longtime Republican representative Kenny Marchant, who announced Monday he was not planning to run for a ninth term.
Van Duyne has served in the government since 2001 when she was elected first to the Irving City Council and eventually mayor. In March 2017, she joined the Trump administration working under Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Ben Carson as regional HUD administrator in Fort Worth.
Writing to her supporters, Van Duyne said, "Y'all have supported and prayed for me through it all and now more than ever I'm going to need each and every one of you."
District 24 of the United States House of Representatives covers an area between Dallas and Fort Worth generally north of Texas 183 and south of 121 and 635 in Dallas, Tarrant and Denton counties and includes parts of Addison, Bedford, Carrollton, Colleyville, Coppell, Dallas, Euless, Farmers Branch, Grapevine, Hurst, Irving, Plano and Southlake.
