Sen Orrin Hatch of Utah—the senate’s longest-serving GOP member, is retiring at the end of the year, his staff announced Tuesday.
Observers had speculated Hatch would announce this week whether he would run for his seat again. Many Utahns have made it clear Hatch, who originally ran on term limitations, had been in the Senate long enough.
Though Mitt Romney, savior of Utah’s 2002 Olympics and foe of President Donald Trump, is the odds-on favorite at this time (BTW: Trump recently urged Hatch to seek an eighth term)—time remains for Ambassador to Russian Jon Huntsman Jr. (scion of the family that owns The Salt Lake Tribune who has not been as publicly disgusted with Hatch as Romney) to throw his fedora in the ring.
Hatch, playing to Utah’s arch-conservative GOP convention system, has proved to be a lick-spittle supporter of Trump. Now, Hatch will have time to pursue his career as a song writer.
