Republican Senate Finance Chairman Orrin Hatch of Utah announced his retirement Tuesday afternoon, putting an end to an over four-decade career in the Senate.
“After much prayer and discussion with family and friends, I have decided to retire at the end of this term,” Hatch announced in a video on Twitter Tuesday. “I’m deeply grateful for the privilege you’ve given me to serve as your senator for these last four decades.”
WATCH:
An announcement from Senator Orrin G. Hatch. #utpol pic.twitter.com/UeItaLjR3j
— Senator Hatch Office (@senorrinhatch) January 2, 2018
“I want to thank you all for your support through these many years. May God bless you all,” Hatch said.
Hatch promised in 2012 that if he won reelection, it would be his last term in the Senate. Hatch is the longest serving Republican in Senate history.
“I was a leader of the Sagebrush Rebellion that started during my first term in the Senate,” Hatch said in 2012. “The state has made it clear that they expect the land to be conveyed by the end of 2014. I want to see the transfer of land happen, and the end of the need for a Sagebrush Rebellion, during my last term in the Senate.”
Hatch was the victim last week of a Utah-based newspaper editorial that called him a lying, power-grabbing senator with an “utter lack of integrity.”
The Salt Lake City Tribune editorial board ran an opinion piece Christmas Day detailing why Hatch is the Utahn of the year for 2017.
The reasons the Tribune chose Hatch, include: “Hatch’s part in the dramatic dismantling of the Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments; His role as chairman of the Senate Finance Committee in passing a major overhaul of the nation’s tax code; and, His utter lack of integrity that rises from his unquenchable thirst for power.”
Former GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney is expected to run for Hatch’s seat in 2018.
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