Posted on 10/05/2020 8:20:41 AM PDT by RandFan
Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.), who is poised to become chairman of the Senate Banking Committee if Republicans keep the Senate majority, announced Monday that he will retire from Congress at the end of 2022.
Toomey, who is in his second Senate term, also said he has decided not to run for governor in 2022 and instead will return to the private sector, although he doesn’t have any “specific plans” for what he’ll do after 18 years of public service in Washington — three House terms and two Senate terms.
Toomey said his decision was driven by “personal” reasons and not “political reasons,” adding that President Trump’s recent COVID-19 diagnosis and partisan gridlock in Washington were not factors.
“I will not be running for reelection in 2022 and I will not be running for governor. I will serve out the remainder of my term for a little over two years that are left to the current term and after that my plan is to go back to the private sector,” Toomey said at a press conference in Bethlehem, Pa.
“By the time I finish this term, I will have been in public office for 18 years over a 24-year period,” he said, noting he took a six-year hiatus between his House and Senate stints.
The Pennsylvania senator said he decided to announce his decision before the 2022 election cycle because he was being flooded with calls from supporters offering to help him run for a third term or for governor.
He said he also wanted to give an early heads up to other Pennsylvania Republicans who may be thinking about running for his Senate seat in the next cycle.
Toomey said he is looking forward to spending more time with his family in Pennsylvania and has “no specific plans” and is “not going to spend time or energy thinking about what I’ll do later” because “I have a lot of work still ahead of me.”
Toomey represents one of at least 20 Republican seats that will be up for reelection in 2022. Had he decided to run for another term, he would have been a top Democratic target.
He said now that he has decided to retire, he will be able to focus on his work as the possible chairman of the Senate Banking Committee and an influential member of the Senate Finance Committee.
“It is my hope that I’ll be chairman of the Senate Banking Committee because I’m hopeful and cautiously optimistic that my Republican colleagues will prevail in a number of tough races and we will be in the majority,” he said. “I hope to be serving these last two years with President Donald Trump having been reelected. I support his campaign and I support his reelection.”
Toomey declined to say in 2016, when he was running for a second term, whether he would vote for Trump and only announced his support just as the polls closed.
On the one hand....Good riddance to this globalist RINO pain in the ass.
On the other....really good likelihood this seat goes to a Dem next time. Hate to say it but the GOP in this state is largely incompetent.
Don’t let the door knob hit ya Arlen.
Toomey ran as a firebreathing conservative that first time, and he won. So it's not that he needed to be a squishy moderate to be electable. He chose to be a squishy moderate. Basically he was and is just another GOP liar who says he is one thing to get elected then governs completely differently.
“...GOP in this state is largely incompetent. ....”
in office way too long so largely self-serving and often as corrupt as their Rat counterparts !
Didn’t he try and do some “deal” on gun control with the Dems?
Ridiculous.
I’m wondering if the hatred for Wolf and the Dems based on their Covid handling will translate into a strong backing of Republicans in 2022. Hopefully they come up with a good candidate. Reschenthaller has done a good job in Congress but not sure how well he’d do state-wide.
He did his part and defeated Sestak in 2010. same as Thune when he took on Tiny Tom in 2004-SD. Good for him to go now b4 he becomes a Specter. Might cost us the seat so we’ll have to make it up elsewhere.
No. He’s a seat that might be lost, and he most often votes with Trump and the Reps.
At least he was slightly smarter than the rest of the GOP-e who decided to retire.
He gave them enough time to find a replacement.
At least he is giving a ton of notice to allow for a good candidate. Disappointed in Toomey. Started my career in Allentown. He would drop by the office and talk to my boss who was his friend. He was a dyed in the wool conservative. But like all politicians, they get to DC and are warped by the swamp.
On another note, when he was running the first time, I had the chance to talk to Santorum at the Union League in Philly. He was there for a fundraiser. I asked why he was not doing more to support Toomey. His answer, which was shockingly frank? He felt that it would lessen his chances to win (the next cycle) because PA would never support two conservative Senators.
One less Bush League Republican.
He ran as a fiscal conservative....
i dont recall him doing anything in DC apart from teaming up with the Dems to push gun control!
Santorum was right. He supported Specter over Toomey(primary) because it was more winnable for Specter. SCOTUS appointment was coming up and Specter promised to support the nominee in return for Santorum’s support. Surprised he kept his word.
Yes. Arlen is an illiterate about guns, just like the Arlen before him. Toomey also doesn't know anything about the voters that put him into office. Why in the hell do I and other conservatives have to work at convincing Toomey to take everyday Republican positions? He's a eff'n globalist liberal. An abject piece of schitt.
A lot of you are commenting on Toomey and his past when you should be thinking about holding the seat. If Sean Parnell wins his House race maybe he should run for this Senate seat? I’m sure there’s a long line of old white guy chomping at the bit. I fear we may lose the seat to an AOC-like radical.
Yes he did try to do a deal. You know a deal with the dems, you get cards off the top, they deal cards to themselves off the bottom. What a fool.
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