Republican senator Orrin Hatch of Utah announced he would not seek re-election to an eighth term in 2018 in a video Tuesday afternoon.
Hatch, 83, has served in the Senate since he was first elected in 1977, and is currently the chairman of the Senate Finance Committee. He helped lead the GOP tax reform effort, the biggest overhaul to the tax code since the 1980s, that passed in late December.
“I’ve authored more bills that have become law than any member of Congress alive today. I played a central role in the creation of the modern generic drug industry, the passage of the landmark Americans With Disabilities Act, and the confirmation of every current member of the United States Supreme Court,” Hatch said in his announcement video.
“I was an amateur boxer in my youth, and I’ve brought that fighting spirit with me to Washington. But every good fighter knows when to hang up the gloves.”
Hatch’s retirement comes after President Donald Trump publicly urged him not to retire during a trip to Utah in December, and it opens the door for former Massachusetts governor and 2012 GOP nominee Mitt Romney to run in the heavily Mormon state, a possibility that has been widely speculated since Hatch first signaled he was considering retirement in 2018.
Hatch has expressed support for the notion of Romney—a vocal critic of President Donald Trump—replacing him in the Senate, telling National Journal in March that if Romney were to run, “it would be a great thing for America.”
