Mich. Sen. Carl Levin Won't Run for Re-election

Has been in Senate since 1979

U.S. Sen. Carl Levin, who has been a force for progressivism in the Senate since 1979 and made his mark in recent years as chairman of the powerful Armed Services Committee, will not run for re-election next year, likely setting off a political avalanche of interest in the seat.

Levin, 78, released a statement Thursday afternoon saying he made the decisions believing "I can best serve my state and my nation by concentrating in the next two years on the challenging issues before us … in other words, by doing my job without the distraction of campaigning for re-election."

Speculation had been running high that Levin might decide not to run for reelection, but Levin had repeatedly said he hadn't made up his mind. Last month, his office staff knocked down speculation that he might not seek a seventh 6-year term in 2014 after filing a small fundraising report for the last quarter of 2012.

Comments

[A Serious Man]

Bring on Justin Amash!

[Sevo]

Hey, he's got his retirement benes, and that's all that matters.

[Harvard]

Prior to his place at the senate trough the fat fuck was a state bureaucrat and Detroit city councliman, displaying his inate ability to suck the public tit his entire life. Michigan, and the nation, will be the better with this pud off the scene.

[StackOfCoins]

I love that fiery rhetoric. I checked his wikipedia and his face has that look that says "punch me".

[SweatingGin]

I'm really starting to wonder about the raft of dem senators not running for re-election. Seems way too soon to think they would lose in '14, unless they were made to have a very unpopular vote -- like an AWB.

They announce they are retiring now, get a new candidate in, and they can vote for gun control with a chance of keeping the seat for the demos, rather than a near-sure loss. New candidate can even disavow that vote.

[Some call me Tim?]

Doesn't matter. If John Boehner values his seat and speakership, an AWB will never see the floor.