WASHINGTON -- Succumbing to scandal, former Majority Leader Tom DeLay said Tuesday he will resign from Congress in the face of a tough re-election race, closing out a career that blended unflinching conservatism with a bare-knuckled political style.

"I have no fear whatsoever about any investigation into me or my personal or professional activities," DeLay said in a statement to constituents. At the same time, he said, "I refuse to allow liberal Democrats an opportunity to steal this seat with a negative, personal campaign."

He said the voters of his Houston-area district "deserve a campaign about the vital national issues that they care most about ... and not a campaign focused solely as a referendum on me."

DeLay relinquished the post as House majority leader last fall after his indictment in Texas as part of an investigation into the allegedly illegal use of funds for state legislative races. He decided in January against trying to get the leadership post back, as an election-year corruption scandal staggered Republicans and emboldened minority Democrats.

DeLay, an 11-term Texas lawmaker who turns 59 on Saturday, said he would make his resignation effective sometime before mid-June but contingent on the congressional calendar.

"He has served our nation with integrity and honor," said Majority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, who succeeded DeLay in his leadership post earlier this year.

But Democrats said the developments marked more than the end to one man's career in Congress.

"Tom Delay's announcement is just the beginning of the reckoning of the Republican culture of corruption that has gripped Washington for too long," said Karen Finney, a spokeswoman for the Democratic National Committee. "From DeLay to Scooter Libby to Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, to Duke Cunningham, to Bob Ney, to David Safavian, the list of goes on and on."

Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., a major player in congressional investigations of Abramoff and the lobbyist's involvement with Indian tribes, said Tuesday that he respects DeLay's decision to step down, and added, "I think there are other aspects of the Abramoff scandal that will be unfolding in the weeks ahead."

McCain spoke to reporters following a speech to a Hispanic conference in Houston.

Bush: Party Will Not Suffer Because Of DeLay's Decision

President George W. Bush said Tuesday that DeLay had informed him of his decision Monday afternoon.

"I wish him all the best," Bush told reporters during a brief White House session, adding, "It had to have been a very difficult decision for someone who loved representing his district in the state of Texas."

Bush said the Republican Party wouldn't suffer from DeLay's decision to resign from Congress. "My own judgment is that our party will continue to succeed because we are the party of ideas."

White House press secretary Scott McClellan said Tuesday that Bush had thanked DeLay "for his service and all that he accomplished. Congressman DeLay has been a good ally whom the president has worked very closely with." Asked whether Bush tried to talk him out of it, McClellan said, 'This is a decision that Congressman DeLay made and we respect his decision."

Decision Comes Week After Aide Pleads Guilty

Last week, former DeLay aide Tony Rudy pleaded guilty to conspiring with lobbyist Jack Abramoff and others to corrupt public officials, and he promised to help the broad federal investigation of bribery and lobbying fraud that already has resulted in three convictions.

Neither Rudy, Abramoff nor anyone else connected with the investigation has publicly accused DeLay of breaking the law, but Rudy confessed that he had taken actions while working in the majority leader's office that were illegal. DeLay has consistently denied any wrongdoing.

"I know that the left has used it to try to brand me with guilt by association, but I have always served honorably and ethically," DeLay said Tuesday. "I've never broken the law or the spirit of the law or even a House rule."

Until scandal sent him to the sidelines, DeLay had held leadership posts since the Republicans won control of the House in a 1994 landslide. At first, he had to muscle his way to the table, defeating then-Speaker Newt Gingrich's hand-picked candidate to become whip.

But DeLay quickly established himself as a forceful presence -- earning a nickname as "The Hammer" -- and he easily became majority leader when the spot opened up.

DeLay was the driving force behind President Bill Clinton's impeachment in 1999, weeks after Republicans lost seats at the polls in a campaign in which they tried to make an issue of Clinton's personal behavior.

His trademark aggressiveness helped trigger his downfall, when he led a drive to redraw Texas' congressional district boundaries to increase the number of seats in GOP hands.

The gambit succeeded, but DeLay was soon caught up in an investigation involving the use of corporate funds in the campaigns of legislators who had participated in the redistricting.