Lois Capps’s daughter won’t run for her seat

The daughter of retiring Rep. Lois Capps (D-Calif.) won’t run to succeed her mother in Congress next year.

In a Facebook post on Monday, Laura Burton Capps said she won’t launch a bid for Congress in 2016 largely because of concerns a long weekly commute from California to Washington would cut short the time with her four-year-old son.

“It would be the ultimate honor for me to represent this incredible district in Congress. After giving a campaign serious consideration, however, I’ve decided that now is not the right time for me, Bill and our four year-old-son, and I will not be seeking election to Congress in 2016,” Burton Capps wrote.

{mosads}”I have great respect for members of Congress who have young families, and hope there will be more of them, but a cross-country commute would make it hard for me to be the mom I try to be every day,” she added.

Lois Capps announced earlier this month that her ninth term in the House would be her last. The seat was previously held by her late husband, Walter, who died of a heart attack less than a year into his first term.

Burton Capps is married to former Obama administration official Bill Burton and previously worked as a speechwriter in the Clinton White House. She also worked as the Iowa press secretary during now-Secretary of State John Kerry’s 2004 presidential campaign.

With Burton Capps out of the race, other Democrats who could win the party’s nomination include Santa Barbara Mayor Helene Schneider and Salud Carbajal, who serves on the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors.

Republicans view the seat as a potential pickup opportunity in the 2016 election cycle after Capps only narrowly won reelection in the Democratic-leaning seat last fall. California State Assemblyman Katcho Achadjian launched his campaign for the seat less than two weeks after Capps’s retirement announcement. GOP businessman Justin Fareed has also announced his candidacy.

— This story was updated at 8:10 p.m.