Ray LaHood, the former Republican congressman from Illinois who has run the nation’s Transportation Department under President Obama, will not serve a second term, he told department employees in a letter on Tuesday.
“I’ve told President Obama, and I’ve told many of you, that this is the best job I’ve ever had. I’m grateful to have the opportunity to work with all of you,” Mr. LaHood wrote. He cited the department’s efforts to curb distracted driving and to increase the efficiency of automobiles by raising emissions standards.
As transportation secretary, Mr. LaHood was at the center of efforts to reduce fatigue among pilots and called for greater investment in high-speed rail. He also pushed for large fines against Toyota for safety problems and for a new transportation bill in Congress.
“We have made great progress in improving the safety of our transit systems, pipelines and highways and in reducing roadway fatalities to historic lows,” he said. “We have strengthened consumer protections with new regulations on buses, trucks and airlines.”
Mr. LaHood’s decision makes him the latest in a series of members of the president’s original cabinet to announce their departures in the last several weeks.
In a statement, Mr. Obama praised Mr. LaHood, the last remaining Republican from the president’s first-term cabinet, as a public servant who has been more interested in practical solutions than in partisan politics.
“Years ago, we were drawn together by a shared belief that those of us in public service owe an allegiance not to party or faction, but to the people we were elected to represent,” the president wrote. “And Ray has never wavered in that belief.”
Several people have been mentioned as possible replacements for Mr. LaHood at the Transportation Department. Among them are three Democratic officeholders: Antonio Villaraigosa, the mayor of Los Angeles; Ed Rendell, the former governor of Pennsylvania; and Jennifer Granholm, the former governor of Michigan. Debbie Hersman, the chairwoman of the National Transportation Safety Board, who was first appointed by George W. Bush and reappointed by Mr. Obama, has also been suggested.
Due to an editing error, an earlier version of this post said that Mr. LaHood was the sole Republican to serve in Mr. Obama's first-term cabinet. Robert Gates, a Republican who served as defense secretary under President George W. Bush, was re-appointed by Mr. Obama.