WASHINGTON — Republican Sen. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, has announced she won't seek re-election for a fourth term, citing "an atmosphere of polarization" in the Senate as the reason for her decision.
Snowe said in a statement that her decision was based in part on the partisan rancor in Washington, saying it was frustrating "that an atmosphere of polarization and 'my way or the highway' ideologies has become pervasive."
"I do not realistically expect the partisanship of recent years in the Senate to change over the short term," Snowe said in the statement, released by her office.
Snowe is one of the last remaining Republican moderates in the Senate who traditionally has never been afraid to break ranks with her party and vote with Democrats. She backed both the economic stimulus plan and the Dodd-Frank financial regulatory overhaul in recent years. Snowe was also the only Republican to vote for the health-care overall at the committee level, although she ultimately voted against the bill on the Senate floor.
Over the last 12 months, however, her voting record has turned sharply right as she positioned herself for a re-election bid.
The moderate lawmaker was potentially facing a rival from a tea-party-backed Republican candidate in a primary in Maine, but was expected to fend off any challenge from the right.
Her announcement that she won't be standing in November could make the Senate seat a potential pick-up target for Democrats in their bid to retain control of the Senate.
"Maine is now a top pickup opportunity for Senate Democrats," said Guy Cecil, executive director of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. "If there is one place in the country that is likely to reject the extreme, anti-middle class, divisive Republican agenda it is Maine."
It wasn't immediately clear who the likely Democratic candidate would be in the race.
Sen. John Cornyn, R-Tex., the chairman of the committee that works to elect Senate Republicans, said in a statement that the party remains "well-positioned" to retain the seat and regain the Senate in the November elections.
Democrats can only stand to lose a net four seats in the November elections if they are to keep control of the Senate next year. Prior to Snowe's announcement, the only three Republican-held seats the party could realistically compete for were in Massachusetts, where Sen. Scott Brown is seeking his first full term; in Arizona, where Sen. Jon Kyl is not seeking re-election, and in Nevada, where Sen. Dean Heller is seeking election after his appointment to the Senate last year.
Democrats must defend at least half a dozen moderate seats held by incumbents or in states where sitting Democrats are retiring.
