Washington, D.C. ? In a setback for the Republican Party as it focuses on November’s elections, a senior Florida congressman resigned Friday following revelations of explicit messages he sent to a male teenage House page.

Rep. Mark Foley, who came to Washington with the GOP landslide in 1994 and became a staunch supporter of the entertainment industry, issued a statement expressing regret and then left Washington, departing abruptly while the House remained in session.

“I am deeply sorry and I apologize for letting down my family and the people of Florida I have had the privilege to represent,” said the 52-year-old congressman, who is single.

He didn’t address the e-mails – in which he asked the boy for a photo and described another teenage boy as being in “great shape” – or a series of sexually suggestive instant messages he wrote to male pages that were revealed Friday by ABC News.