US News

Another GOP senator announces he won’t seek re-election

Republican Lamar Alexander of Tennessee said he will not seek a fourth term in the Senate and will retire after his current term is up in 2020.

“I will not be a candidate for re-election to the United State Senate in 2020,” Alexander said Monday, according to The Tennessean.

The decision means for the second time in two years, Tennessee will have an open Senate race.

Like Sen. Bob Corker, who last year declined to run for a third term, Alexander’s announcement sent shockwaves through Tennessee’s political landscape, the paper reported.

It’s unclear who may run for the seat, but possible candidates include GOP Gov. Bill Haslam and incoming Rep.-elect Mark Green, another Republican who stunned medical professionals when he recently linked vaccines to autism, a position that Alexander was quick to lambaste.