Maine Sen. Olympia Snowe, a Republican, on Tuesday announced she will not seek re-election, according to media reports.
“After an extraordinary amount of reflection and consideration, I am announcing today that I will not be a candidate for re-election to the United States Senate,” she said, according to the Bangor Daily News.
Snowe, 65, said that she will not seek re-election because she was dismayed with the increase in polarization in Congress over the past several years.
“Unfortunately, I do not realistically expect the partisanship of recent years in the Senate to change over the short term. So at this stage of my tenure in public service, I have concluded that I am not prepared to commit myself to an additional six years in the Senate,” she added.
Further, Snowe said that there is a “vital need for the political center in order for our democracy to flourish and to find solutions that unite rather than divide us.”
