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January 02, 2018 12:12 PM UTC

Orrin Hatch to Retire, Opening Door for Mitt Romney

  • 4 Comments
  • by: Colorado Pols
Senator Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) has been a U.S. Senator since 1977

As the New York Times reports today, the eighth-longest serving Senator in United States history is on his way out the door:

Senator Orrin G. Hatch of Utah, the longest-serving Senate Republican, plans to announce on Tuesday he will retire at the end of the year, rebuffing the pleas of President Trump to seek an eighth term and paving the way for Mitt Romney to run for the seat.

Mr. Hatch intends to announce his decision Tuesday afternoon via a video announcement, according to two Republican officials briefed on the plans.

Mr. Hatch, 83, was under heavy pressure from Mr. Trump to seek re-election and block Mr. Romney, who has been harshly critical of the president. But Mr. Hatch, who emerged as one of the president’s most avid loyalists in the Senate, decided to retire after discussing the matter with his family over the holidays. The veteran senator was also facing harsh poll numbers in Utah, where 75 percent of voters indicated in a survey last fall that they did not want him to run again.

There have long been rumors that Sen. Orrin Hatch planned to retire rather than run for re-election, creating a scenario where former GOP Presidential candidate Mitt Romney ends up as the newest Senator from Utah.

Hatch had been growing increasingly unpopular in Utah and was absolutely savaged by the editorial board of the Salt Lake Tribune on Christmas Day for positioning himself to possibly run for another term in 2018:

It would be good for Utah if Hatch, having finally caught the Great White Whale of tax reform, were to call it a career. If he doesn’t, the voters should end it for him.

The corpse of Mississippi Sen. Thad Cochran is expected to retire from politics sometime soon, which would leave Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley as the longest-serving Republican Senator. The longest-tenured Senator from either party is Vermont Democrat Patrick Leahy, who first took his seat in 1975.

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