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Vermont’s retiring U.S. Senator laments quality of some national candidates

U.S. Senator Patrick Leahy and his wife Marcelle attend the Vermont Democratic watch party on November 8, 2022
Pat Bradley
/
WAMC
U.S. Senator Patrick Leahy and his wife Marcelle attend the Vermont Democratic watch party on November 8, 2022

Vermont U.S. Senator Patrick Leahy will retire at the end of his eighth term. As he leaves, he says he’s concerned about some people running for Congress.

Leahy, third in line to the presidency, is the longest-serving member of the Senate. The Democrat says he is not impressed with the quality of many political candidates.

“I’m afraid that there are too many people I’ve seen running who want to run on sloganeering. They think everything ought to be able to be fit down to a slogan. I wonder have they ever read a history book? I hear the people talk about ‘well the Constitution’. I’d be willing to bet any amount of money the people screaming that the loudest have never read the Constitution.”

Leahy will be replaced by Democrat Peter Welch, Vermont’s current at-large Congressman.