Last 'Watergate Baby' Sen. Leahy, 81, Likely Seeking 9th Term

Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., is looking at seeking a ninth term in office, and a source says he believes he is the “only Democrat that can win the seat” in Vermont because he was the only Democrat to ever elected to the Senate from the Green Mountain State.

Leahy has been in office since 1975 and is the last “Watergate baby,” a nickname for the Democrat lawmakers first coming into Congress the year that then-President Richard Nixon resigned, Politico reported.

Leahy, 81, has been assumed to be considering retirement, especially after a health scare earlier this year, but according to a source close to him, he thinks he is the best chance for his party to keep his seat. 

He represents Vermont with Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., who is just a few years younger than him at 79 and caucuses with Democrats.

Leahy, however, said in an interview he has not really thought about seeking another term, but this week, he held a fundraiser and he has raised more than $300,000 in the first quarter of the year toward a reelection campaign.

He said he and his wife, Marcelle, usually decide by the December before the upcoming election year if he should run again. 

“We go snowshoeing and just talk about it,” he said, pointing out there are many people, like the Republicans who oppose an independent commission to investigate the Jan. 6 Capitol attacks, who worry too soon about their reelection and are “afraid to vote for this or that.”

Leahy added, state polls already show he is winning “easily” and he took his seat again in 2016 by a 30-percentage point margin.

The senator, after having been in office for 46 years, is now the longest-serving senator, and if he runs again and wins, he will be in line to pass the record of Sen. Robert Byrd, D-W.Va., who served for 51 years. 

Leahy is not the oldest senator, however. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., who won reelection in 2018, is 87 years old, as are Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, and Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala. Grassley is considering another run next year, while Shelby is retiring.

Sen. Jim Inhofe, R-Okla, is also older than Leahy at 86 and won another six-year term in office last year.

If Leahy wins again, he will probably keep his top Senate assignments, including the powerful chairmanship of the Senate Appropriation Committee, which he could then hold until 2029. Leahy has also in the past chaired both the Judiciary and the Agriculture committees.

Further, if Democrats continue to hold the Senate, Leahy will remain as the Senate pro tempore, keeping him in the line of succession for the presidency behind House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., who is 81 years old like Leahy. 

Meanwhile, Rep. Peter Welch, D-Vt, who is the state’s longest-serving House member is considered the favorite to succeed either Leahy or Sanders if they retire from the Senate. Vermont Gov. Phil Scott, a Republican, would appoint a successor if either Leahy or Sanders step down early, and he has already said he would probably appoint someone who will caucus with Democrats.

Senators this week said they will be surprised if Leahy decides to retire, noting he opposed a Democrat rules change to bar senators who have top slots on key committees from choosing subcommittees until all other members of the caucus have a chance to pick one. That, he said, showed he wanted to stay longer, not leave. 

“I always assumed he would run simply because: What else would he do that he’d like better than this?” said one GOP senator who works often with Leahy. “I would bet he’s running again. He’s always announced late, and why not, if you can get away with it.”