Toomey’s retirement leaves ’22 races open
Announces he won’t run for reelection or Pa. governor, plans to reenter private sector after 18 years in Congress
U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey, the former Wall Street banker who became the Lehigh Valley’s most powerful elected official, said Monday he will neither seek reelection nor run for governor of Pennsylvania in 2022, breaking two major statewide races wide open.
Toomey plans to reenter the private sector after 18 years in Congress, 12 as a senator and six as the Lehigh Valley’s U.S. representative, he announced at a news conference in Bethlehem with his family in attendance.
“Representing the people of Pennsylvania, this big, beautiful, complicated, diverse state, has been an extraordinary honor,” the 58-year-old Republican said, adding that stepping away from government service “is consistent with long-held views I’ve had in support of term limits.”
“I always thought I’d probably serve just two terms [in the Senate],” he added. “By the time I finish this term, I will have been in public office for 18 years over a 24-year period. Eighteen years is a long time.”
“All of that time our family has lived in Pennsylvania. I’ve spent as little time as a I can in Washington but it still ends up being a lot of time away from home,” Toomey said.
Aside from judges, Toomey is the only Republican holding statewide office, and he was viewed as a potential Republican front-runner had he decided to run for governor. Gov. Tom Wolf will be term-limited in 2022, meaning two of the state’s biggest names will be out of the race.
Christopher Borick, director of the Muhlenberg College Institute of Public Opinion, said Toomey’s decision leaves room for ambitious politicians to make a name for themselves, though it’s too soon to say who would hold an advantage. Pennsylvania is a critical swing state in this year’s presidential election, and the winner of that race would shape Pennsylvania’s upcoming Senate and gubernatorial races. Midterm elections tend to favor the party out of power.
“Political cycles matter and they matter in a big way. Depending on how you hit the cycle, it could go a long way,” Borick explained. “So much rests on what happens this November. Your party is probably going to be better off in 2022 if the party loses in 2020.”
Borick said he will be fascinated to see how the Republican Party defines itself two years down the road. While President Donald Trump eked out a win over Hilary Clinton in 2016, he’s trailing in recent Pennsylvania polls. Trump-supporting candidates have not fared well in the Keystone State in the last four years, either. Will the party rally behind someone like U.S. Rep. Lou Barletta, a Trump surrogate who lost a senate race to Democrat Bob Casey in 2018? Or will a more moderate Republican such as former U.S. Rep. Charlie Dent, the one-time Lehigh Valley congressman who publicly clashed with the president before resigning in 2018, carry the day?
“No one else has been able to pull off that Trump magic,” Borick said.
Toomey’s decision personal, not political
With his wife and three children at his side at PBS39 in Bethlehem, Toomey told reporters and a livestream audience hewas making his intentions known now so other candidates could begin building their campaigns. Hewas receiving calls from supporters who wanted to help him run for governor or hold fundraisers, he said, and he did not want to lead them on.
“Once I reached the decision, I needed to be candid with them. I think I should be candid with everybody,” he said. “I’ve made the decision. It’s not going to change. I wanted to let everyone know.”
Toomey acknowledged he’ll have many supporters to thank when he steps away from public office but said he will save that for another day. Instead, he will focus on the work ahead in the next two years. Toomey said he hopes to serve as chairperson of the Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs should Republicans retain control of the Senate after this year’s general election. He also noted that some of the provisions in Trump’s tax cuts are set to expire in the years ahead.
“One of the most constructive things we can do to help people back to work and to have higher wages is to make those provisions permanent,” he said.
After leaving Wall Street, Toomey and two brothers opened the sports bar Rookie’s on Tilghman Street in Allentown. The RhodeIsland native entered politics in 1994 when he was elected to a commission that rewrote the city’s charter. Four years later, he won Pennsylvania’s then-15th Congressional District on a platformof rewriting the tax code and limiting himself to three terms. After a failed bid to oust Sen. Arlen Specter in 2004, he succeeded in 2010, chasing the incumbent from the Republican Party, and defeating Joe Sestak, who had beaten Specter in the Democratic primary.
Since serving in the Senate, the fiscal conservative has mostly focused on trade agreements and financial matters. However, he broke from the Republican Party on the topic of gun control after the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre in 2012 and authored a bipartisan bill that would have expanded background checks. The amendment was defeated in the Senate.
Toomey emphasized his decision was not influenced by politics, saying that neither the election challenges facing Trump nor concerns about a future campaign played a factor in his decision.
“I don’t want this to come across the wrong way, but I’ve been in five tough general elections — three in what was then the 15th Congressional District and what is now the 7th and two in Pennsylvania. I won all five of them. I think if I decided to run again, I would have won again,” Toomey said.
The Philadelphia Inquirer broke the news of Toomey’ s intentions over the weekend, but the announcement still served as a bombshell to Pennsylvania politics. Reactions from political foes and allies soon followed.
“Unlike so many elected officials before him, Sen. Toomey changed Washington, D.C., not the other way around,” said Pennsylvania GOP Chairperson Lawrence Tabas, “He never forgot the promises he made to his constituents. Whether keeping to his term limit pledge while in Congress, or delivering on the historic TaxCuts and Jobs Act, he has been a man of his word.”
The protest group Tuesdays with Toomey, which has picketed Toomey’s offices across the state for nearly four years, celebrated the senator’s decision. The group, which first formed to pressure Toomey to serve as a check on Trump’s actions, has accused Toomey of blowing off progressive Pennsylvanians.
“We’re elated he will no longer be considering a run for senate or governor,” spokesperson Kadida Kenner said. “We want to make sure there’s someone who will listen to his constituents.”