Stabenow passes on 2024 reelection bid

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Michigan Democratic Sen. Debbie Stabenow will not run for reelection, opening up a battleground seat in 2024 as well as creating a vacancy in party leadership.

The four-term senator’s decision stunned many Democrats and is an early challenge to the party’s hopes of holding the Senate in 2024. Stabenow chairs the Senate Agriculture Committee and serves as the No. 3 Democratic leader, helming the party’s messaging arm as one of Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer’s closest allies.

She had indicated last year that she was planning to run for reelection, making her reversal all the more surprising to Democrats. But Stabenow said on Thursday she’s ready to “begin a new chapter in my life that includes continuing to serve our state outside of elected office while spending precious time with” her family.

“Inspired by a new generation of leaders, I have decided to pass the torch in the U.S. Senate,” she added in a statement Thursday morning. “I am announcing today that I will not seek reelection and will leave the U.S. Senate at the end of my term on January 3, 2025.”

Stabenow is the first battleground-state Democrat to announce she will not seek another term, and she is the first of several party incumbents to make long-awaited announcements about their futures. Democrats face a challenging Senate map in 2024, with hotly contested races in several red states and undecided incumbents in Sens. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) and Jon Tester (D-Mont.). Schumer has yet to announce who will chair the Senate Democratic campaign arm this cycle.

Michigan has proved fertile ground for Democrats in the last few elections as the party took the governor’s office, the state Legislature and defended its Senate seats. Nonetheless, an open seat there is quickly becoming one of Republicans’ top pickup opportunities in 2024.

National Republican Senatorial Committee spokesperson Mike Berg said his party will “aggressively target this seat in 2024. This could be the first of many Senate Democrats who decide to retire rather than lose.”

At the currently leaderless Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, spokesperson David Bergstein said that because of the party’s recent successes “we are confident Democrats will hold this Senate seat in 2024.”

Stabenow’s decision will accelerate a changing of the guard of Democratic leadership as well. Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) just stepped away from the party’s top brass, elevating Stabenow to the No. 3 slot in the hierarchy and Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) to No. 4.

Rumors about Stabenow’s future have swirled in recent months amid an exodus of Senate Agriculture staff under the Michigan Democrat. Only a handful of people on Capitol Hill knew of her plans Thursday morning, as word also spread among a band of her former staff now spread throughout Washington.

Now there will be an opening at the Democratic Policy and Communications Committee, a plum perch that comes with extra staff and a high profile. Schumer, notably, once occupied the leadership spot Stabenow is leaving.

Currently the dean of the Michigan delegation, Stabenow rose from the statehouse to the U.S. House and eventually entered the Senate in 2001, after defeating Republican incumbent Spencer Abraham.

She is widely viewed by both parties as effective at negotiating deals and getting her way on Capitol Hill. That’s especially true of the farm bill, a massive piece of legislation that includes hundreds of billions of dollars in federal spending on rural communities and the agriculture sector. Stabenow, a veteran of the weedsy farm-bill talks, has long had a major role in shaping the legislation, even as a member of the minority.

Stabenow will serve out the remaining two years of her term leading the committee. Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.) is likely next in line to take over the Agriculture Committee gavel, though Klobuchar and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) may want to seek the role if they shuffle their committee assignments this Congress.

In her statement Thursday, Stabenow said she will remain “intensely focused on continuing this important work to improve the lives of Michiganders,” including leading the next farm bill, which expires this year.

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