Long-serving Sen. Orrin Hatch dies at age 88

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Orrin G. Hatch, the longestserving Republican senator in history and a fixture in Utah politics for more than four decades, has died at age 88.

The retired senator’s death Saturday was announced in a statement from his foundation, which did not specify a cause.

A staunch conservative on most economic and social issues, he also teamed with Democrats several times during his long career on issues ranging from stem cell research to rights for people with disabilities to expanding children’s health insurance. He formed friendships across the aisle, particularly with the late

Democratic Sen. Edward M. Kennedy.

President Joe Biden, whose

served with Hatch in the Senate over three decades, on Sunday described the Republican lawmaker as a fighter for the

causes he believed in, but with a softer side including writing songs and poems that he shared with friends.

“To serve with Orrin, as I did for over three decades, was to

see — and appreciate — both,” Biden said in a statement. “I

saw that energetic, sharp-elbowed Orrin in the many battles we had over tax policy, the right of workers to join a union, and many others.”

Hatch championed GOP issues like abortion limits and helped shape the U.S. Supreme Court, including defending Justice Clarence Thomas

against sexual harassment allegations during confirmation hearings.

He later became an ally of

Republican President Donald Trump, using his role as chairman of the powerful Senate Finance Committee to get a major rewrite of U.S. tax codes to the president’s desk. In return, Trump helped Hatch deliver

on a key issue for Republicans in Utah with a contentious

move to drastically downsize two national monuments established by past presidents.

Hatch retired in 2019. Trump encouraged him to run again, but the longtime senator would have faced a tough primary and had promised to retire. Hatch encouraged Republican Mitt Romney, a Trump critic, to run to replace him.

“Few men have made their mark on the Senate as he did,” Romney wrote in a tribute to

his friend and predecessor, praising his “vision and legislative accomplishment.”