Year in Review: Seasoned lawmakers retire from the Senate
Samantha-Jo Roth
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Six members of the U.S. Senate opted not to seek reelection at the end of their terms, turning the page on long and accomplished tenures in the upper chamber. Five of them are Republicans and one is a Democrat, meaning this cycle had the highest number of Republicans not seeking reelection since at least 2012.
The number grows if you count the senators who are retiring before their terms are up. Nebraska Sen. Ben Sasse (R) is stepping down several days after the new Congress is seated, on Jan. 8, to become president of the University of Florida, while Sen. Jim Inhofe, an Oklahoma Republican, is vacating his seat on Jan. 3, opening the door for incoming Sen. Markwayne Mullin.
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Here are the members who decided to make the 117th Congress their last and retire at the end of their terms.
Pat Toomey
Sen. Pat Toomey (R-PA) is retiring after 12 years serving in the Senate and six years as a U.S. congressman. His seat is set to be filled by Democrat John Fetterman, the Pennsylvania lieutenant governor who defeated GOP nominee Dr. Mehmet Oz in the midterm elections. Toomey was a fiscal conservative with an independent streak when it came to social issues. He served on the Senate’s Banking, Budget, and Finance committees, more recently pushing for regulatory clarity on cryptocurrencies.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has described Toomey as a “detail-oriented” economics whiz and a “collegial” consensus builder. The Pennsylvania senator has been a vocal critic of Donald Trump and was one of seven Republican senators who voted to convict the former president at his second impeachment trial.
“Our party can’t be about or beholden to any one man. We’re much bigger than that. Our party is much bigger than that,” Toomey said during his farewell speech on the Senate floor.
Rob Portman
Sen. Rob Portman (R-OH) is returning to the private sector after serving in the Senate since 2011. He previously spent 12 years representing the Cincinnati area in the U.S. House of Representatives. When announcing his decision, he cited partisan gridlock as a major factor, saying it has “gotten harder and harder” to “make progress on substantive policy.” During his time in the Senate, he pursued legislation to fight opioid addiction and online sex trafficking, promote cybersecurity, and reform the U.S. Postal Service.
In January, Republican businessman J.D. Vance will take Portman’s seat after winning against Rep. Tim Ryan (D-OH) in the midterm elections. McConnell said Portman’s success in the Senate is a result of his “deep knowledge, his work ethic, and his passion for finding his way to the thick of each consequential issue.”
“I do worry about the direction of the political rhetoric in this country,” Portman said in his farewell address without referencing Trump. “We need to do everything we can to restore faith in our democratic institutions, both for our own sake and so we can continue to be a shining beacon on the hill for the rest of the world.”
Roy Blunt
After more than a decade in office in the Senate and 14 years in the House, Sen. Roy Blunt (R-MO) is retiring. Blunt, a member of Senate Republican leadership, has been a fixture in GOP politics for decades, both at the statewide and national level. In the Senate, he served as majority whip and chairman of the Republican Policy, Appropriations, Commerce, and Intelligence committees.
While Blunt was often a reliable Republican vote, he crossed party lines to support some Democratic initiatives. He was one of 19 Republicans to support an infrastructure bill last year. He also voted for legislation to address gun violence and codify same-sex marriage rights into federal law. McConnell noted Blunt’s quick rise within the ranks of the party in a speech honoring him.
“When he won his election in 2010, all his colleagues knew our team was getting an all-star,” McConnell said. “And sure enough, if six years from freshman status to House leadership set a modern land-speed record on that side of the Capitol, then over here, Roy broke the sound barrier.”
Blunt stressed the importance of bipartisanship in a farewell speech on the Senate floor.
“When we agree and when we don’t, we are bound by the Constitution to seek a more perfect union,” he said.
Blunt will be succeeded by GOP Sen.-elect Eric Schmitt in January.
Richard Burr
After nearly 30 years in both the House and the Senate, Sen. Richard Burr (R-NC) is retiring. Burr, 67, served as chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee for five years until 2020. Burr stepped down as chairman after the Department of Justice launched an investigation into stock sales he made days before the COVID-19 pandemic. The DOJ eventually dropped the investigation, but separately, the Securities and Exchange Commission launched an inquiry in 2021.
The senator helped pass laws to end the government-backed tobacco quota system for growers, help those with disabilities set aside funds to pay for expenses, and reform the Food and Drug Administration. He was one of seven Republican senators who voted to convict Trump at his second impeachment trial, prompting a vote by the North Carolina Republican Party to censure him.
In his farewell address, Burr cautioned his colleagues on both sides from using impeachment for political reasons in the future.
“Nobody wins in impeachments,” Burr said. “Congress should resist the temptation to treat impeachment as just the newest form of political opposition.”
Rep. Ted Budd (R-NC), who will replace Burr, will be sworn in on Jan. 3.
Richard Shelby
First elected in 1986 as a Democrat, Sen. Richard Shelby (R-AL) has served in the Senate for 36 years. He switched to the Republican Party in 1994.
Prior to his tenure in the Senate, he served four terms in the U.S. House of Representatives and two terms in the Alabama Senate. Shelby has held leadership roles on many committees, including Appropriations, Intelligence, Rules and Administration, and Banking. Known as a master appropriator, his influence in the Senate funneled billions of dollars back to his home state.
He played a pivotal role in shaping the most recent omnibus, although he came under fire from conservatives for cutting one last deal with Democrats on the massive year-end spending bill. Shelby spoke about the importance of bipartisanship during his farewell speech on the Senate floor.
“It is important because it is good for the country. It is important because it brings people together. It is important because we all have our differences in philosophy, but the country, I believe, should be first, the nation should be first. It is important, I also believe, because of the oath we take, all of us, when we are sworn into the Senate,” he said.
Shelby will be replaced by Republican Sen.-elect Katie Britt.
Patrick Leahy
Patrick Leahy (D-VT) is closing out a Senate career that has spanned 48 years. Leahy is currently the longest-serving senator and is third in line to the presidency as the president pro tempore. During his eight terms in office, he chaired or served as the top-ranking member on the Appropriations, Judiciary, and Agriculture committees. He’s the fourth-longest serving senator in history and has cast nearly 17,000 votes. Leahy’s work on the omnibus bill as the chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee represents the final piece of his legacy. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) praised his work and career in a speech on the Senate floor.
“It’s the conclusion for an era here in the Senate — I want him to hear this — we will call this the Leahy era, for all you have done. It’s an era that began in the aftermath of Watergate and now concludes nearly 50 years and eight terms later. A legacy that includes so much: Appropriations chair, Agriculture chair, Judiciary chair, president pro tem. And to be sure, he’s finishing his tenure precisely the way we’d all expect him to: by being up at 10 p.m., 11 p.m., and 1:30 a.m. this morning — it kept getting later — to file the omnibus,” Schumer said.
The Vermont senator is also known for his quirky side. He is often seen holding his camera in the U.S. Senate and snapping photos in areas where others aren’t allowed access. A lover of Batman, he’s made appearances in five of the franchise’s movies and did voiceovers for a character in an animated Batman movie.
Leahy urged his colleagues to return to the bipartisan cooperation he says was the norm back when he first arrived in the Senate in 1975.
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“I fear those days may be gone, but I pray just temporarily, because if we don’t start working together more, if we don’t respect each other, the world’s greatest deliberative body will sink slowly into irrelevance and, heaven forbid, become our own version of the House of Lords,” he said during his farewell speech on the Senate floor.
Leahy will be replaced by Rep. Peter Welch (D-VT).