Senator Patrick Leahy of Vermont will preside over the Senate trial of former president Donald Trump
Senator Patrick Leahy of Vermont will preside over the Senate trial of former president Donald Trump GETTY IMAGES / MARK WILSON

Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., announced Monday that he will not seek reelection for 2022. He plans to retire after 46 years in his Senate seat.

“While I will continue to serve Vermont, Marcelle [Leahy] and I have reached a conclusion: it is time to put down the gavel. It is time to pass the torch to the next Vermonter, who will carry on this work for our great state. It’s time to come home. I will not run for reelection,” the senator announced Monday.

Leahy is the current longest-serving senator and Senate president pro tempore, which puts him third in line for presidential succession. He also chairs the Appropriations Committee and is the most senior member of the Senate Judiciary and Agriculture Committees. He is also a member of the Appropriations Subcommittee on State Department, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs.

Leahy, 81, has served as a senator for 46 years. He was elected as the youngest senator from Vermont in U.S. history at age 34, and the first non-Republican since 1856. Voters elected him in the wake of the Watergate scandal in 1975 and he is one of the last so-called “Watergate Babies” in the Senate.

In May of 2021, Politico reported that Leahy was considering a ninth-term run, but he has decided to not pursue that goal. He leaves an equally divided Senate at 50-50 going into the 2022 midterm elections.

Leahy's empty seat leaves a vacancy in the wake of recent upset elections against Democrats. However, Vermont has not elected a Republican to federal office in decades, so the seat is likely safe.

The senator is also a film actor and comic book fan, according to his filmography. Leahy is especially fond of Batman after appearing in “The Dark Knight” and “The Dark Knight Rises” in 2012 as a Wayne Enterprises board member, and again in 2016 in “Batman vs Superman: Dawn of Justice” as Senator Purrington. Leahy appears in six Batman productions total, sometimes staring as himself.

In his spare time, Leahy is also an amateur photographer, an activity he will likely pursue into retirement.