Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio), an advocate for environmental cleanup at the Department of Energy’s Portsmouth Site, said in a statement Monday he will not run for re-election in November 2022.
“This doesn’t mean I’m leaving now – I still have two more years in my term and I intend to use that time to get a lot done,” Portman said, adding he has oversight projects and legislation that “I’m eager to get across the finish line.
“We live in an increasingly polarized country where members of both parties are being pushed further to the right and further to the left, and that means too few people who are actively looking to find common ground,” Portman said. Portman added that 82 of the bills he backed were signed into law by President Donald Trump and 68 by President Barack Obama.
Over the years, Portman supported increased funding for an on-site waste disposal facility at the former gaseous diffusion plant and threatened to block Obama’s nomination of Victoria Baecher Wassmer to be DOE under secretary of energy for management and performance. Portman thought she was unsupportive of decommissioning at Portsmouth.
Portman is winding down his second six-year term in the Senate, first being elected in November 2010. He previously served in the executive branch, where from 2005 through 2007 he held positions including director of the Office of Management and Budget and U.S. trade representative in the George W. Bush administration. Before that Portman served Ohio in the U.S. House of Representatives for 12 years.
A report from Cleveland television station WKYC suggested possible Republicans interested in the seat could include Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), Lieutenant Governor Jon Husted (R) along with Youngstown State university president and former Ohio State football coach Jim Tressel. Prospective candidates from the Democratic Party include Dayton Mayor Nan Whaley, Cincinnati Mayor John Cranley and Rep. Tim Ryan (D-Ohio), who has been a member of Congress since 2013.
Ryan was quoted by The Hill as saying he is “looking seriously” at a run. The same publication reported there is some Twitter buzz to recruit professional basketball superstar LeBron James, an Akron, Ohio native, to run for the seat. James has been an outspoken supporter of Democrats running for national office in recent years. Of course, James is currently plying his trade for the Los Angeles Lakers where he is reportedly making about $85-million over two seasons. A Senate salary is only $174,000 annually.
