WASHINGTON (By Carl, Hulse, NYTimes) April 4, 2006 — Representative Tom DeLay, the relentless Texan who helped lead House Republicans to power but became ensnared in a corruption scandal, said publicly today that he had decided to leave Congress.

"After many weeks of personal, prayerful thinking and analysis, I have come to the conclusion that it is time to close this public service chapter of my life," Mr. DeLay said in a statement issued this morning. He added that the time had come to open "new chapters" and to "engage in the important cultural and political battles of our day from outside the arena of the United States House of Representatives.

He said that he would relocate to Virginia, living closer to Washington to help make a "successful transition" from public to private life.

"I have no regrets today and no doubts," Mr. Delay said. "I am proud of the past, I am at peace with the present and I'm excited about the future, which holds as always America's brightest days and mine, too."

Mr. Delay's decision was first reported Monday by MSNBC and by Time magazine, which posted an interview with him on its Web site, as did The Galveston County Daily News.

Mr. DeLay, who abandoned his efforts to hold his position as majority leader earlier this year after the indictment of the lobbyist Jack Abramoff, a former ally, was seeking re-election as vindication. But he told selected colleagues that, facing the possibility of defeat, he had decided not to try to keep his House seat.

"He just decided that the numbers and the whole political climate were against him and that it was time to step aside," one Congressional official with knowledge of Mr. DeLay's plans said Monday. The official did not want to be identified because Mr. DeLay's formal announcement was scheduled for today.

Mr. Delay, who is serving his 11th term in Congress, told the Galveston paper he planned to step down from his seat by late May or June.

Congressional aides said Mr. DeLay had informed his Texas colleagues and other Republican leaders, including Representative Thomas M. Reynolds of New York, the chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee, as well as President Bush.

One DeLay ally said that the lawmaker had been considering leaving Congress since he gave up his leadership post in January and that he had been persuaded to make the break last week, when his former deputy chief of staff, Tony Rudy, pleaded guilty to corruption charges. He was also said to have been influenced by troubling poll numbers in his district in the Houston area.

Though Mr. DeLay had moved into the background since leaving the majority leader's office, his decision to leave Congress could rattle House Republicans already anxious about their prospects in November, partly because of the cloud of ethics problems caused by the scandal involving Mr. Abramoff and Mr. DeLay's former inner circle.

The decision also threw into turmoil the 22nd Congressional District, where Mr. DeLay convincingly won a primary contest by a margin of better than 2 to 1 against three Republican rivals less than a month ago.

"Because I care so deeply about this district and the people in it, I refuse to allow liberal Democrats an opportunity to steal this seat with a negative personal campaign," said Mr. Delay in the statement.

Monday night, with the news ricocheting around Texas and Washington, Mayor David G. Wallace Jr. of Sugar Land, Mr. DeLay's hometown, said he would seek the seat. Asked in an interview if he was running, he said, "I am."

Mr. Wallace, 44, an investment banker and real estate developer serving his second two-year-term in the part-time City Hall position, said he had not talked to Mr. DeLay about a vacancy but had been hearing "rumors in the last couple of days."

"Our understanding is that if Tom vacates the seat, there will be a special election called," Mr. Wallace said.

Mike Stanley, campaign manager for Tom Campbell, a lawyer who led the Republican challengers to Mr. DeLay in the primary March 7, said he believed Mr. Campbell would now seek to re-enter the race.