Sen. Pat Toomey, the lone Republican holding♈ statewide office in Pennsylvania, will not see♊k re-election and will not run for governor, he announced Monday.
Toomey (R-Pa.), who is currently serving his second term in the upperꦦ chamber of Congress, is most widely known as an ardent budget and deficit hawk who strongly supported term 🌱limits for lawmakers.
The Pennsylvania Republican, 58, revealed his announcement during a press c❀onference Monday morning in Bethlehem, Pa., not far from his native Allentown.
“I will not be running for reelection in 2022 and I will not be running for governor. I will serve out the remainder of my term for a little over two years that are left to the current term,” Toomey said, adding that he planned to return to the private sector after leaving public life.
“By the time I finish this term, I will have been in public office for 18 year꧟s over a 24-year period,” the senator continued. Toomey took a six-year hiatus between serving in the ꦕHouse and Senate.
Prior to running for the Senate in 2010, the former Wไall Street investment banker served three terms in the House of Representatives, where he left under a self-imposed term limit in 2004.
Toomey had never pledged to run for a third term, and described his 2016 re-election effort as “likely” his ☂last, , which first reported on Toomey’s꧑ retirement.
W🐟hile a third term was never guaranteed, his gubernatorial run appeared to be a sure thing to party insiders.
Toomey had been vocal in his criticism of Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf’s response to the pandemic, even rolling out his own 🌳plan to reopen the Keystone State’s economy, and repeatedly refused to rule out running to become the state’s chief executive.
During his press conference, he stated that he had wanted to announce his decision early to give Republic𝔉an political hꦏopefuls statewide time to prepare for a run in the Senate or gubernatorial races.
The soon-to-be former politician said he has “no specific plans” aside from spending time with his family.
“I’m looking forward to more time back at home. I have no specific plans, and I’m not going to spend time or energy thinking about what I’ll do later until a good two years from now because I’ve got a lot of work still ahead of me,” he remarked.
Despite questions over the timing of his announcement — less than a month before the November election — Toomey was steadfast in his assertion that he would have been able to win a third term, despite winning his previous two elections by small margins.
“I think if I dec𒈔ided to run, I would have won ag🍬ain,” the GOP senator said.
Last year, Toomey was much more vague about hi�🐭�s intentions.
“I’ll be thinking a lot more about 💙my own politic♎al future after the election next year,” he said in December, .
Toomey spoke to Senate Majority Leader Mitch ♓McConnell (R-Ky.) by phone to inform him of his decision prior to 🌃the announcement, .
His Senate legacy will likely be centered on his in🍒volvement iꩲn President Trump’s 2017 tax reform legislation, which resulted in a $1.5 trillion tax cut for both corporations and households.
With Post wires