US Politics

Utah Senator Hatch to Retire, Despite Push to Run Again

FILE - U.S. President Donald Trump (L) speaks nex to Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orin Hatch, R-Utah, during a meeting with members of the the Senate Finance Committee and his economic team in the Cabinet Room of the White House in Washington, Oct. 18, 2017.

Utah Republican Senator Orin Hatch will be retiring at the end of his current term, after four decades in the Senate, he said Tuesday.

In a video message, Hatch said, "When the president visited Utah last month, he said I was a fighter. I have always been a fighter. I was an amateur boxer in my youth and I have brought that fighting spirit with me to Washington. But every good fighter knows when to hang up the gloves."

"For me," he added, "that time is soon approaching.That is why after much prayer and discussion with family and friends, I have decided to retire at the end of this term."

Hatch, 83, was encouraged by President Donald Trump to run for another term and block Mitt Romney, a Republican, but a harsh critic of the president, from running.