by Guy Page
Gov. Phil Scott won’t seek the open U.S. Senate seat next year, he said at a press conference today.
Sen. Patrick Leahy announced yesterday he will not seek re-election, prompting speculation about who might seek his seat. Leahy has held that Senate seat since 1974.
Scott was asked by the Chronicle if he would run. Definitely not, he said: “I’m out of it.” Moments later, Boston Globe columnist Kevin Cullen noted that fellow moderate Republican NH Gov. John Sununu also recently said he wouldn’t run for the Senate.
“Both you and Gov. Sununu have regularly bemoaned partisan gridlock in Washington. How does that change without moderate voices like yours in Washington?”, Cullen asked. Scott said he agreed D.C. needs more moderate voices but “I just choose not to be one of them….It’s something that takes a different style, a different approach.” Scott also observed that non-partisans are a minority in DC. Having spent most of his political life in the minority, “I don’t want to be in it again,” he said.