The Washington Post is reporting that U.S. Rep. Tom Davis III (R-Va.) said today he will retire from Congress at the end of the year. With Davis' exit from Congress, the District loses a longtime champion of such local issues as D.C. voting rights.

As recently as yesterday, WTOP was reporting that Davis might yet change his mind about retiring. With today's announcement, Davis confirms that after 14 years in the U.S. House of Representatives, it's time for him to go make a ton of money in the private sector. Last year the congressman flirted with the idea of running for the soon-to-be-vacated U.S. Senate seat of John Warner (R), but early polls gave former Va. Gov. Jim Gilmore the edge, and Davis dropped his bid.

Davis served as chairman of the D.C. subcommittee of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, and later, as chairman of the entire committee. He is also given a large amount of credit for luring a number of large tech companies to Northern Virginia, which helped fuel an economic boom across the region. In the District, Davis will be remembered as a tireless advocate for D.C. residents, and a chief architect of last year's attempt to give D.C. a single voting member in the House. Davis also pushed through legislation that gave District residents the ability pay in-state tuition at any public university in the country.

It's early yet to say who will step up to run for Davis' seat, but you can bet Democrats are eying it as a potential pick-up for the first time since 1994.