Ohio Sen. Rob Portman said on Monday that he does not seek re-election in 2022 – joining at least two other undecided state Republicans who will retire.
Portman told the Cincinnati Enquirer that “it is becoming increasingly difficult to break the party deadlock and make progress in substantive politics, and that has contributed to my decision.”
65-year-old Portman is completing his second six-year term. He is a former member of the House and was the budget director of the White House during the second term of former President George W. Bush.
While midterm elections are often good for the opposition party during a president’s first term – with big Republican gains in 1994 and 2010 and Democrats taking over the House in 2018 – pensions among Republicans can be challenging.
Also retiring in 2022 are Sens Republicans. Pat Toomey from Pennsylvania and Richard Burr from North Carolina. No Democratic senator has announced his retirement.
The other senator from Ohio is Democrat Sherrod Brown.
Portman told the Enquirer that he is undecided about going to the impeachment trial of former President Donald Trump for allegedly inciting the crowd that invaded the Capitol and interrupted President Biden’s victory certification.
“As a juror, I will listen to both sides. This is my job, ”Portman told the newspaper. He said, however, “I do not condone anything that President Trump did on January 6 or before that.”
At least 17 Senate Republicans would have to vote in favor of Trump’s sentencing – a steep climb. Only 10 House Republicans voted for Trump’s impeachment this month, and at Trump’s first impeachment trial last year, a single Republican, Senator Mitt Romney of Utah, voted to convict on one of two charges.