Democratic Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont announced Monday he would not seek reelection next year, leaving open a seat he has held since 1975.
“I’m proud to be Vermont’s longest-serving senator, and my time in the Senate has made a difference,” Leahy, 81, said at a press conference at the Vermont State House. He said he chose the location because it was where he initially announced his candidacy for the Senate.
Leahy is the longest-serving Democrat in the Senate and is chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee. He is the most senior member of the Judiciary and Agriculture committees. His retirement means Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders will no longer be the junior senator from the Green Mountain State.
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Leahy was elected in the Democratic wave following the Watergate scandal. He is a vocal fan of Batman and has appeared in five of the franchise’s movies, including The Dark Knight.
Democratic Rep. Peter Welch, the state’s lone congressional representative, has signaled he would seek the seat if Leahy retires. Sanders is reportedly weighing an endorsement of Welch, which would likely freeze out other Democratic primary challengers. However, Welch and Sanders are closer personally than politically, as the former has recently faced scrutiny in the state for his stock portfolio and co-sponsoring laws that officials said stymied their efforts to combat the state’s opioid epidemic.
But some Democrats have argued that Vermont, which has never sent a woman to Congress, should do so.
The Senate seat in deep-blue Vermont is likely to remain in Democratic control. But some national Republicans hope Republican Gov. Phil Scott, who won reelection by 15 percentage points in 2018 as Sen. Bernie Sanders was elected to a third term, is popular in Vermont. However, he has previously said he is not interested in running for Senate.
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Scott has taken a centrist approach to governing, focusing on state issues rather than national ones. He has said he did not vote for former President Donald Trump and has challenged his party’s platform on some issues. He is the only Republican to win statewide office in over a decade and is seen as the only Republican in the state who could theoretically win the seat.
