Republican U.S. Senator Rob Portman on Monday said he would not seek re-election when his current term expires in 2022, citing the nation’s political divisions, which he said make it “harder to break through the partisan gridlock and make progress.”
“We live in an increasingly polarized country where members of both parties are being pushed further to the right and further to the left, and that means too few people who are actively looking to find common ground. This is not a new phenomenon, of course, but a problem that has gotten worse over the past few decades,” he said in a statement. “This is a tough time to be in public service.”
(Reporting by Susan Heavey; Editing by Tim Ahmann)