U.S. Senator Jeff Flake of Arizona announced his decision not seek re-election in 2018. His term in the Senate will end in early January of 2019.
Flake is among the Republicans critical of President Donald Trump. He is among the targets of former White House strategist Steve Bannon to unseat in the Senate. His decision is a boon for Bannon, who declared a war on the GOP establishment.
Last month, Republican Sen. Bob Corker of Tennessee, another Trump critic, decided to retire after his term expires at end of 2018.
Flake condemns the current political environment
In a blistering speech on Tuesday, Flake highlighted the crudeness of the current politics and leadership in the United States.
According to him, it seems the country’s democracy is more by defined by its leaders’ “political discord and “dysfunction” than their “values and principles.”
Flake said, “I rise today with no small measure of regret. Regret because of the state of our disunion.” The senator also regrets the disrepair and destructiveness of the country’s politics, indecency of discourse, and coarseness of its leadership.