Pennsylvania Sen. Pat Toomey Will Step Down From Politics Putting Republicans At A Disadvantage In The Swing State

Republican Senator Pat Toomey will be stepping down from politics and has decided not to run for reelection or governor in 2022.

Toomey, a two-term fiscal conservative, announced on Monday that he made the directions to leave his position as Senator over the past few days, saying that he will be turning to a private sector. According to Politico, Toomey said he wanted to reveal his plans during the 2020 presidential campaign because he wanted to be transparent.

“I’ve made a decision, it’s not going to change, and I want everybody to know,” Toomey said, who previously let Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell know before announcing it to the public. Despite his decision to step down, Toomey said he still supports Donald Trump, although his move will affect the Republicans’ chance of competing statewide in Pennsylvania. However, Toomey said he would be open to being a surrogate and campaigning for Trump, whom he did not previously support in the 2016 presidential election.  “I hope to be serving these last two years with President Donald Trump reelected. I support his campaign; I support his reelection,” he said.

As he continued, Toomey said he is “cautiously optimistic” that his party will retain the majority come this fall at the ballots, despite the Democrats’ fight for controlling p0wer. Toomey is the only statewide elected Republican politician in office in the Keystone State, the publication reports, and if he were to run again, he said he is confident that he “would have won.” But, after serving as a politician for 18 of 24 years, he has decided to go back to the private sector, which will put Republicans at a disadvantage as they survey the 2022 Senate landscape, according to Politico.

Toomey seemingly has a hot-and-cold relationship with Trump. Toomey called Trump’s actions during his impeachment trial “inappropriate,” but ended up voting to have him acquitted. He said that he isn’t a fan of Trump’s behavior but that he isn’t his responsibility either. “I decided early on; I am not responsible for the president’s Twitter feed; I am not responsible for editing his comments in any given medium. I work with this president on a regular basis; it’s a very constructive relationship,” said Toomey. “When I’ve disagreed with him, which I have, I haven’t been bashful about saying so. But that has nothing to do with this decision.”