Sen. Patrick Toomey announced Monday he will not seek a third term in 2022 in the battleground state of Pennsylvania.
Toomey, 58, is Pennsylvania’s only Republican in the Senate, and his retirement will set off a competitive race to fill the vacancy in a state that voted for President Trump in 2016 but is now polling slightly in favor of Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden.
“The reasons I have reached this decision are not political. They are personal,” Toomey said, citing his belief in term limits. “I always thought I’d probably serve just two terms. … By the time I finished this term, I will have been in public office 18 years. … Eighteen years is a long time.”
Toomey said he is also forgoing a bid for governor.
Toomey won his first Senate term in 2010 by defeating then-Rep. Joe Sestak, the Democrat who beat incumbent Sen. Arlen Specter in the primary. Specter had recently switched parties, abandoning the Republican Party that he said at the time had shifted too far to the right.
Before his successful run for the Senate, Toomey represented Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, in the House from 1999 until 2005. He also served as president of the fiscally conservative Club for Growth in 2005 after leaving the House and before running for the Senate.
Toomey serves on the Senate Budget Committee and advocates for cutting spending and reducing the debt.
He partnered with Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia to craft a bipartisan gun control compromise in 2013 that attracted significant support in the Senate but not enough to win passage. The measure, which expands background checks for firearm and ammunition purchases, is still considered a vehicle for an eventual deal on gun control.
