After nearly 30 years in office, Rep. Ed Towns (D-N.Y.), who sits on the House Committee on Government Reform and Oversight and is also a member of the Congressional Black Caucus, has decided not to run for re-election in a June primary against New York State Assemblyman Hakeem Jeffries and New York City Councilman Charles Barron. The Wall Street Journal calls Barron a "wild card" because of his black-nationalist-inspired politics.

From the Wall Street Journal:

Rep. Ed Townsā€™s decision not to run for re-election, announced in statement Monday morning, sets up a likely two-way primary for his heavily Democratic Brooklyn congressional seat between a firebrand city council member and a more moderate assemblyman.

Assemblyman Hakeem Jeffries, from the Fort Greene neighborhood, had posed the greatest threat to Towns, with $400,000 in the bank at the end of March and a slew of important labor endorsements. Towns, on the other hand, had just over $250,000 at the end of the month, and the longtime congressman had been sending mixed messages about whether he intended to run ā€¦

City Council Member Charles Barron, from the Brownsville neighborhood, is something of a wild card. He has a following in a crucial part of the district, but his unique brand of black nationalist-inspired politics will likely be a turn off in other parts ā€¦

Read more at the Wall Street Journal.