After 44 years embedded in the swamp, Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) announced that he will retire at the end of his current term and will not seek re-election in 2026.
Durbin was first elected to the U.S. House in 1982 and served seven terms before being elected to the Senate in 1996.
The 80-year-old said that age was a factor in his decision.
Durbin told WBEZ:
“I’ve decided not to run for re-election. So a year and a half from now, I’ll be wrapping up. I plan on working full-time until that moment, but I’m not going to be waging a campaign for re-election,” Durbin said during an interview in downtown Chicago.
A major reason for his decision boiled down to one thing: his age. By the time a sixth term would end, Durbin would be 88.
“It’s time,” Illinois’ 80-year-old senior senator said. “You observe your colleagues and watch what happens. For some of them, there’s this miraculous aging process where they never seem to get too old.
Durbin shared his decision in a video saying, “The decision of whether to run for re-election has not been easy. I truly love the job of being a United States senator. But in my heart, I know it’s time to pass the torch.”
Watch:
The decision of whether to run for re-election has not been easy. I truly love the job of being a United States Senator.
But in my heart, I know it’s time to pass the torch.
So, I am announcing today that I will not be seeking re-election at the end of my term. pic.twitter.com/eiBTPjToFT
— Senator Dick Durbin (@SenatorDurbin) April 23, 2025
The post Just In: Second-Ranked Senate Democrat Dirty Dick Durbin Announces Retirement, Will Not Seek Re-Election in 2026 appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.