Two-term Rep. Jack Zika, R-Redmond, said Thursday he would not run for re-election next year. 

“Hard decision, but I have to take care of myself and my family,” Zika said in a text to The Bulletin.

A press release from the House Republican Caucus said Zika’s decision was “due to family illness and personal health reasons.” No additional details were given.

Zika won one of the closest elections in American history in 2018, capturing the Republican primary for House District 53 by two votes over Ben Schimmoller, a conservative activist from Bend. Schimmoller now lives in Redmond.

Zika went on to win the general election in November with 56.4% of the vote against Democrat Eileen Kiely, a former Daimler executive from Sunriver. Zika was re-elected in 2020 with just over 58% of the vote over Democrat Emerson Levy of Bend.

Levy, an attorney who lives in northern Bend, has announced she will seek the seat again in 2022. 

The race will be for a significantly different version of the district.

For the past 10 years, House District 53 has been known as the “doughnut district,” since it encircled House District 54, which includes most of Bend. It includes Redmond, Sunriver and a northern portion of Bend.

Rapid growth in Deschutes County required major revisions in district boundaries to meet the population and demographic changes shown in the 2020 U.S. Census. 

House District 53 was severed roughly along U.S. Highway 20, so that Sunriver is now in House District 55.

While House District 53 still includes a portion of northern Bend, a jagged boundary put some eastern and northern portions of Redmond in the newly aligned House District 59.

The redistricting of 30 Senate and 60 House seats has led several lawmakers to announce plans to retire or run for a different political office.

In Central Oregon, Rep. Daniel Bonham, R-The Dalles, whose district currently includes Jefferson County and the northernmost portion of Deschutes County, says he will run for the seat of retiring Sen. Chuck Thomsen, R-Hood River.

During Zika’s time in office, he successfully worked to get Redmond included in a state pilot project for affordable housing. He also worked on ways to add better and more affordable day care, an issue that had become especially acute in rapidly growing Central Oregon.

While Levy has said she will run next year, no formal declarations of candidacy for legislative districts are being accepted by the Secretary of State until a Republican-led challenge of the new district boundaries is decided by the Oregon Supreme Court.

Zika said local Republican leaders and the House Republican Caucus would be involved in seeking a strong GOP nominee for the district.