Senate veteran Hatch to retire
WASHINGTON – Utah Sen. Orrin Hatch, the most senior Republican in the Senate, announced Tuesday he intends to retire at the end of his term. The move may pave the way for former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney to run for Hatch’s Senate seat.
“When the president visited Utah last month, he said I was a fighter,” Hatch said in a video posted on his Twitter account. “I was an amateur boxer in my youth, and I’ve brought that fighting spirit with me to Washington, but every good fighter knows when to hang up the gloves and for me that time is soon approaching.
“After much prayer and discussion with family and friends, I’ve decided to retire at the end of this term,” Hatch, 83, said.
Hatch is in his seventh term — he was first elected in 1976 — and is the Senate president pro tempore, a largely ceremonial leadership position reserved for senior members.
In his video address, Hatch said he has “authored more bills that have become law than any member of Congress alive today.”
The Utah Republican is chairman of the Senate Finance Committee. Republicans on that committee led the Senate effort to overhaul the tax code, President Donald Trump’s signature legislative accomplishment so far.
Hatch is popular in his state, and was re-elected in 2012 with 65 percent of the vote. Sen. Mike Lee, Utah’s junior senator, said that Hatch would be “sorely missed.”
Romney, who ran for president in 2012, has been a frequent critic of the president, and Trump had encouraged Hatch to run for re-election.
Romney weighed in on Hatch’s retirement Tuesday afternoon but did not address his own political future. But Evan McMullin, a 2016 presidential candidate from Utah who also has been critical of Trump, and others were already urging him to jump into the race.