佛蒙特州参议员帕特里克·莱希是参议院最资深的议员，也是第三位总统候选人，他周一宣布，他将于2022年从参议院退休，而不是寻求历史性的第九个任期。
莱希对聚集在蒙彼利埃佛蒙特州议会大厦的人群说:“我为自己是佛蒙特州任期最长的参议员感到骄傲，因为我知道我在参议院的时间对佛蒙特州人来说有很大的不同，”有时他会哽咽。
“我把佛蒙特州的声音带到了美国参议院，也把佛蒙特州的价值观带到了世界各地，”莱希说，他的爱人马塞勒陪伴了他近60年。“虽然我将继续为佛蒙特州服务，但我和马塞勒已经得出结论，是时候放下小木槌了，是时候把火炬传递给下一个佛蒙特州人了……是时候回家了。”
赫伯·斯旺森/环保局，通过Shutterstock
参议员帕特里克·莱希宣布他决定不再竞选参议员
81岁的莱希是历史上任职时间第五长的参议员，他的宣布肯定会引发一场填补席位的争夺战。然而，大多数专家认为，民主党众议员彼得·韦尔奇。，在提名中占了上风。
“我预计韦尔奇将竞选现在开放的#VTSen，如果他想要的话，这显然是他的，但请密切关注州参议院临时主席贝卡·巴林特，她可能会竞选韦尔奇的开放众议院席位，并让佛蒙特州成为国会中的第一位女性。”发推库克政治报告的参议院专家杰西卡·泰勒。
莱希目前是强大的参议院拨款委员会主席，最近在国会领导乔·拜登总统的疫情经济救助的主要部分。他是司法委员会和农业委员会中最资深的成员。莱希也是美国国务院、对外行动和相关项目拨款小组委员会的长期高级成员，积极捍卫美国在海外的角色，最近领导了反对前总统唐纳德·特朗普削减外援预算的斗争。
虽然莱希可能是进步事业的党派战士，但他过去也曾与共和党人一起参与立法工作，比如与他的拨款委员会对手阿拉巴马州的理查·谢尔比达成最后一刻的政府拨款协议，以及与爱荷华州的查克·格拉斯利合作进行刑事司法改革。
爱荷华州参议员查克·格拉斯利在推特上写道:“很抱歉2听说莱希退休了，我和他一起制定了这么多重要的立法虚假索赔举报人保护EB5信息自由法案，举几个例子。帕特、马塞勒、芭芭拉和我是好朋友。对于参议院来说，他的领导地位将会被错过。”几十年来，他一直和莱希一起担任司法小组的主席和高级成员。
谢尔比参议员最近宣布退休，发推周一，“在过去的47年里，莱希主席在参议院有着非凡的职业生涯。作为拨款委员会、司法委员会和农业委员会的主席以及参议院临时主席，帕特为佛蒙特州服务得很好，也很光荣。他对我们国家和他的国家的奉献值得称赞。我感谢帕特的友谊，并祝愿他和他的妻子马塞勒一切顺利。”
作为一名多产的立法者，莱希吹嘘他的工作创造了分水岭式的2004年无罪保护法案，该法案保证死刑犯可以获得DNA检测，信息自由法案——对记者和其他人来说是透明度的顶峰——以及防止对妇女施暴法。他多年来一直致力于帮助重建与古巴和越南的正常关系。
在寻求政治职位之前，莱希——一名训练有素的检察官——在奇坦登县担任了八年的州检察官，并于1974年被选为该国三名杰出的检察官之一，这一年他决定寻求参议院席位。
他还因为出演了五部轰动一时的大片，包括克里斯托弗·诺兰的《黑暗骑士》，而在蝙蝠侠电影迷中享有一定的崇拜地位
他承认自己是蝙蝠侠的影迷，并于1992年写了一本相关书籍的序言，然后于1995年首次与瓦尔·基尔默、吉姆·凯瑞和汤米·李·琼斯一起出演了一个未经剪辑的小角色。也许他最出名的一次露面是在2008年，当时他在《黑暗骑士》中扮演韦恩企业的董事会成员饰演小丑的奥斯卡获奖演员希斯·莱杰粗暴地对待了睁大眼睛的莱希。
尽管工作繁忙，有时还要玩，但热心的摄影师莱希几乎从来没有不带相机在国会山周围拍照，并与任何有意愿的记者分享这些照片背后的故事。他已经发表了几张照片，并被邀请评判一年一度的白宫新闻摄影师协会竞赛，这是一项独特的荣誉。
参议员也是神枪手冠军。
他和马塞勒实际上是国会大厦的常客，他们都是狂热的旅行者，只是最近随着年龄和健康问题的出现，才抑制了他们对深海潜水的喜爱。最近一次是在1月份，这位参议员在结束了一整天主持参议院对前总统特朗普的第二次审判后，因胸痛不得不住院过夜。
利希一家在华盛顿和他们在佛蒙特州米德尔塞克斯的林场之间旅行，这位参议员经常回忆起他们的家。
自1962年以来，帕特里克·莱希一直与马塞勒·波默罗·莱希结婚。这对夫妇有一个女儿、两个儿子和五个孙子。他的女婿劳伦斯·杰克逊目前是副总统卡玛拉·哈里斯的摄影师。
莱希的任期将于2023年1月到期。
Democratic Sen Patrick Leahy announces he won't seek reelection
Vermont Sen. Patrick Leahy, the Senate’s most senior member and third in line to the presidency, announced Monday that he will retire from the chamber in 2022 rather than seek a historic ninth term.
"I’m proud to be Vermont’s longest-serving senator, because I know my time in the Senate has made a difference for Vermonters," Leahy told a crowd gathered at the Vermont Statehouse in Montpelier, at times choking up.
"I’ve brought Vermont’s voice to the United States Senate and Vermont’s values around the world," said Leahy, accompanied by his beloved wife of nearly 60 years, Marcelle. "And while I will continue to serve Vermont, Marcelle and I have reached a conclusion that it’s time to put down the gavel, that it’s time to pass the torch to the next Vermonter … It’s time to come home."
Leahy, 81, is the fifth-longest serving senator in history, and his announcement was sure to set off a scramble to fill the seat. Most experts believe, however, that Rep. Peter Welch, D-Vt., has the upper hand for the nomination.
"I would expect Welch to run for the now-open #VTSen and it's clearly his if he wants it, but keep an eye on State Senate President Pro Tempore Becca Balint who could run for Welch's open House seat and give Vermont its first woman in Congress,"tweetedJessica Taylor, the Cook Political Report’s Senate expert.
Leahy is currently chairman of the powerful Senate Appropriations Committee, more recently shepherding major pieces of President Joe Biden’s pandemic economic relief through Congress. He is the senior-most member of both the Judiciary and the Agriculture committees. Leahy also is a longtime top member of the Appropriations Subcommittee on State Department, Foreign Operations and Related Programs, zealously guarding the United States' role abroad, more recently leading battles against former President Donald Trump’s efforts to slash foreign aid budgets.
And while Leahy could be a partisan warrior for progressive causes, he has also joined with Republicans on legislative efforts in the past, like striking last-minute government funding deals with his Appropriations Committee counterpart Richard Shelby of Alabama, and working on criminal justice reform with Iowa’s Chuck Grassley.
"Sorry 2hear of Sen Leahy’s retirement He & I work together on so many major pieces of legislation False Claims Whistleblower protections EB5 Freedom of Information Act to name a few Pat, Marcelle, Barbara & I are gr8 friends For the Senate his leadership will b missed,” tweeted Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, who has served with Leahy as chairman and ranking member, alternately, of the Judiciary panel for decades.
Sen. Shelby, who recently announced his own retirement,tweetedMonday, "Over the past 47 years, Chairman Leahy has had a remarkable career in the Senate. As chairman of the Appropriations, Judiciary, and Agriculture committees and president pro tempore of the Senate, Pat has served Vermont well and with honor. His devotion to our nation and his state merits praise. I thank Pat for his friendship and wish he and his wife, Marcelle, all the best."
A prolific legislator, Leahy touted his work creating the watershed Innocence Protection Act of 2004 that guaranteed access to DNA testing for those on death row, the Freedom of Information Act -- a pinnacle of transparency for journalists and others -- and the Violence Against Women Act. He has worked for years to help with the reestablishment of normal relations with Cuba and Vietnam.
Before seeking political office, Leahy -- a prosecutor by training -- served as State’s Attorney in Chittenden County for eight years and was chosen as one of three outstanding prosecutors in the country in 1974, the year he decided to seek a Senate seat.
He has also enjoyed something of a cult status for Batman movie buffs, having appeared in five of the blockbuster hits, including Christopher Nolan's "The Dark Knight."
A self-confessed Batman movie fan, he wrote the forward to a related book in 1992 and then first appeared in 1995 alongside Val Kilmer, Jim Carey, and Tommy Lee Jones with an uncredited cameo. Perhaps his best-known appearance came In 2008 when he played a Wayne Enterprises board member in "The Dark Knight.” A wide-eyed Leahy was manhandled by the Oscar-winning Heath Ledger, who played the Joker.
Despite a hectic work - sometimes play - schedule, Leahy, an avid photographer, is almost never seen without a camera in hand taking photos around Capitol Hill and sharing the stories behind those pics with any willing journalist. He has had several of his photos published and has been invited to judge the annual White House News Photographers Association contest, a distinct honor.
The senator is also a champion marksman.
Herb Swanson/EPA via Shutterstock
Senator Patrick Leahy announces his decision to not run for another term in the Senate...
He and Marcelle, who is practically a fixture at the Capitol with her husband, are avid travelers, only recently curbing their affinity for deep-sea diving as age and health concerns set in. Most recently, in January, the senator had to be hospitalized overnight with chest pains after he finished a long day presiding over the second Senate trial of former President Trump.
The Leahys travel between Washington and their tree farm in Middlesex, Vermont, a home about which the senator often reminisces.
Patrick Leahy has been married to Marcelle Pomerleau Leahy since 1962. The couple has a daughter, two sons, and five grandchildren. His son-in-law, Lawrence Jackson, is currently Vice President Kamala Harris’ photographer.
Leahy's term is slated to expire in January 2023.
