Tennessee senator Bob Corker announced Tuesday that he won’t run for reelection next year, putting to rest weeks of speculation about the influential Republican’s potential retirement from the Senate.
“After much thought, consideration, and family discussion over the past year, Elizabeth and I have decided that I will leave the United States Senate when my term expires at the end of 2018,” he said in a statement.
“When I ran for the Senate in 2006, I told people that I couldn’t imagine serving for more than two terms. Understandably, as we have gained influence, that decision has become more difficult,” the Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman continued. “But I have always been drawn to the citizen legislator model, and while I realize it is not for everyone, I believe with the kind of service I provide, it is the right one for me.”
“I also believe the most important public service I have to offer our country could well occur over the next 15 months, and I want to be able to do that as thoughtfully and independently as I did the first 10 years and nine months of my Senate career.”
The influential lawmaker, once in the running to be President Trump’s secretary of State and floated as a potential running mate, has traded barbs with the president in recent months. Corker said in August that the president has not yet shown the “stability” or “competence” necessary to be successful.
Trump described the remark as “strange” and stirred up questions about Corker’s potential retirement.
Strange statement by Bob Corker considering that he is constantly asking me whether or not he should run again in ’18. Tennessee not happy!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 25, 2017
The last Republican primary for Senate in Tennessee was a competitive one, when then-state representative Joe Carr broke 40 percent of the vote in his loss to incumbent Sen. Lamar Alexander. Carr secured conservative commentator Laura Ingraham’s support in that race. Alexander went on to defeat Democrat Gordon Ball by 30 percentage points.
Carr, who fashions himself in the mold of Trump, said in August he was considering a primary challenge to Corker.
