Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) plans to leave his seat at the end of this month to become CEO at a new media company founded by former president Donald Trump, the company announced Monday. The move was confirmed by a political ally of Nunes, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the congressman’s plans. Nunes’s office did not respond to inquiries.

       Wp Get the full experience.Choose your plan ArrowRight

       Nunes, who was first elected to Congress in 2002 at age 30, was reelected last year for a 10th term, which ends in January 2023. A news release Monday said Nunes would be joining the Trump Media & Technology Group as its chief executive starting in January.

       If the GOP were to take back the House majority in 2022, Nunes would be in line to be chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee. By stepping down, he would be potentially giving up what is considered the most powerful committee gavel.

       Advertisement

       Story continues below advertisement

       Nunes represents a historically Republican district that was growing more competitive even before the current round of redistricting. In 2012, President Barack Obama lost Nunes’s 22nd Congressional District, in California’s Central Valley, by 15 points. Last year, Joe Biden lost it by just six points.

       As he became better known as a Trump defender, Nunes became one of the party’s strongest fundraisers. He spent $11.6 million on his 2018 reelection, when he held off a Democratic challenger by single digits, and spent most of the $26.8 million he raised for his 2020 race.

       Early drafts of California’s next map put Nunes in a less Republican district in the Fresno area, one that backed Biden by nine points. Before the announcement Monday, Republicans were watching to see whether Nunes would switch to a new seat that was safer for his party — which would have pitted him against one of his Republican colleagues.

       Advertisement

       Story continues below advertisement

       By leaving Congress before his term ends, Nunes will set up an early 2022 special election for his seat. According to state election law, Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) must call a special election within 14 days of Nunes leaving office, and a primary must be held 18 to 20 weeks later. The top two vote-getters in the primary would head to a general election, meaning that the Nunes seat could be vacant until midsummer.

       Representatives for the office of House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) did not immediately respond to inquiries Monday.

       Phil Arballo, a Democratic businessman who unsuccessfully challenged Nunes in 2020 and is running for the seat in 2022, responded to the news of Nunes’s retirement with a two-word statement: “Good riddance.”

       Story continues below advertisement

       The Trump Media and Technology Group, which Nunes will head, has not yet released any products to the public and missed its self-imposed deadline to roll out a beta-test version of its social media service in November. It has released very little about its operations or its staffing: in documents filed on Monday with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the company identified its tech staffers only by the first names and last initials. The Chief Technology Officer is Josh A., and the Chief Product Officer is Billy B.

       Advertisement

       Before Nunes, the company had released the full names of just two top employees: Trump himself, who is described as chairman of the company, and streaming-content executive Scott St. John.

       Still, the company has vast ambitions: in investor presentations, it has said it plans to compete with tech giants from Twitter to Amazon Web Services to Disney Plus. In projections shown to investors — and included in SEC filings — the company said it might have 81 million users and $3.6 billion in revenue by 2026.

       Story continues below advertisement

       And it has attracted interest from outside investors. In October, a special-purpose entity called Digital World Acquisition Company said it had agreed to merge with Trump’s business, a move that would give the newly formed Trump company a public stock listing. Afterward, the stock price of Digital World shot up from $10 to $94, as retail investors bought the stock. On Saturday, Trump’s company said it had secured $1 billion of additional money from private investors, which the company would receive after its merger with Digital World goes through.

       Advertisement

       But also Monday, Digital World said it had received “preliminary, fact-finding inquiries” from both the SEC and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, a private group by which the securities industry regulates itself. Those inquiries followed a New York Times story saying that Trump’s company and Digital World may have been in discussions about a merger earlier than they had said publicly. The Times said that, in doing so, the companies may have skirted securities laws and required disclosures.

       Trump, in the release announcing Nunes’s departure from Congress, called him “a fighter and a leader … [who] understands that we must stop the liberal media and Big Tech from destroying the freedoms that make America great.”

       Story continues below advertisement

       In response, Nunes was quoted as saying the “United States of America made the dream of the Internet a reality and it will be an American company that restores the dream.”

       Felicia Sonmez, Marianna Sotomayor, David A. Fahrenthold and Aaron Gregg contributed to this report.

       Read more:

       Former senator Robert J. Dole to lie in state in U.S. Capitol

       Justice Dept. sues Texas over state redistricting maps, citing discrimination against Latinos

       It’s official: Perdue to challenge Kemp for Ga. governor, ensuring divisive GOP primary