Three-term state Rep. Rick Womick is set to leave the General Assembly, saying this week he will not run for re-election.

Womick, a Rockvale Republican who is facing a challenge in the upcoming primary, said he needs to spend more time with his wife and children.

"Six years is enough. It's time for me to step aside and let somebody else serve," Womick said.

The former chairman of the Rutherford County Republican Party said he has grandchildren on the way and aging parents who aren't doing as well. "So there's a lot of issues. But first, my wife and children."

Womick's decision leaves Murfreesboro attorney Jimmy Turner as the only candidate to announce for the 34thDistrict House seat. The GOP primary is scheduled Aug. 4, 2016, with early voting to be held July 15-30.

Elected to office in 2010 when former Rep. Donna Rowland Barrett decided not to run, Womick called Gov.Bill Haslam a "traitor" for using PAC money in the 2014 primary to try to unseat Republicans who spoke out against him. He also ran for House speaker against Beth Harwell before the 2015 session started but garnered only 15 votes to her 57 within the House Republican Caucus.

Womick then called for Haslam's impeachment last year in a letter to every county clerk in the state urging them to ignore directions by the attorney general and governor to issue licenses to same-sex couples following a U.S. Supreme Court reversal of Tennessee law against same-sex marriage.

See the full story in the Murfreesboro Post by Sam Stockard HERE.