Departing senators have spent the past few weeks taking their turns at bidding farewell to speaking from the chamber floor.
“Look, I have seen a number of these exit speeches,” Sen. Jon Tester of Montana said last week on the Senate floor. “To be honest with you, they remind me of a bit of an obituary.”
Tester was one of three Senate Democrats — along with Sherrod Brown of Ohio and Bob Casey of Pennsylvania — who did not intend to depart the Senate at the end of this Congress, but lost their reelection bids. Tester did say that when he first arrived, he only expected to serve 12 years, not the 18 that he will wrap up in January.
“I realized in short order that this is a seniority-driven body, and that the longer you are here, the more ability you have to get done for your state and your country. And I very much appreciate the time that Montanans have allowed me to serve as their representative in the U.S. Senate,” Tester said.
The final address on the Senate floor is, in a sense, the companion to the traditional maiden speech delivered at the start of a senator’s career. Both reflect the chamber’s continued reliance on tradition, even among the myriad advances in technology. Fellow senators, family members and staff alike have customarily paused from their schedules for many of these speeches. And as has been true this year, the remarks typically include a mix of reminiscing about the past and offering wishes for the future of both the chamber and the country.
Republican Sen. Mitt Romney of Utah never reached Tester’s stature on the seniority chart, but he, too, will be leaving next month, having opted to retire after serving one term. Romney previously served a term as governor of Massachusetts and arrived in Congress with considerable cachet after being his party’s 2012 presidential nominee.
“Now, my biggest surprise in the Senate has been how much I enjoy the other senators — on both sides of the aisle,” Romney said in his farewell remarks. “And the truth is that while I may not miss the Senate itself terribly much — the 10-minute votes that last an hour, the unknowable schedule of votes, the myriad meaningless votes, the absurd passion about the inconsequential votes — I will very much miss you, my fellow senators, for among you are some brilliant, some entertaining, some kind and generous and all patriotic.
“It is an honor to have been able to serve with you.”
Another member of the former governors caucus, Senate Environment and Public Works Chairman Thomas R. Carper, D-Del., also chose to retire this year. He focused a bit on his younger years in his farewell speech, including his three tours with the Navy in Southeast Asia during the Vietnam War.
“The best days of the week during our six-month deployments, though, were the days that the mail came, bringing cards, care packages, newspapers and magazines,” Carper recalled. “Following the 1972 election, the issues of both Time and Newsweek included stories of a stunning upset in Delaware, where a 29-year-old upstart named Joe Biden defeated a Delaware icon named Caleb Boggs. I remember thinking to myself, ‘I’d like to meet that young guy someday if I ever make it to Delaware.'”
Carper, of course, did go on to meet Biden and became a fixture in Delaware politics himself, serving as state treasurer, congressman, governor and finally senator — eight of those years alongside the current president.
Retiring Sen. Joe Manchin III of West Virginia, an independent who caucuses with the Democrats, also previously served as a governor.
“I have to admit to you, it was a harder transition than I expected coming. Coming here to Washington was so humbling. It really was,” Manchin said in his final speech. Manchin was in the middle of his second term as governor when he won a special election to fill the Senaate seat that opened following the death of legendary Democratic Sen. Robert C. Byrd.
Manchin, who became an independent this spring, was occasionally a thorn in the side of Democratic leadership — but he was also likely the only person who could have won in West Virginia as a Democrat. In his remarks, he indicated that he would not fully be leaving Washington. His live-aboard boat, “Almost Heaven,” which is docked at the Wharf in Southwest Washington and became a recurring gathering place for senators, apparently isn’t pulling up anchor.
“While I may be leaving the Senate, I’m not going far. My boat will still be docked here, ready to bring people together — Democrats, Republicans, independents — anyone willing to sit down and talk. That’s what this country needs right now: more listening, more respect and more working together,” Manchin said.
Republican Sen. Mike Braun of Indiana, meanwhile, is moving in the opposite direction from the likes of Carper and Manchin — he’s leaving the Senate after one term to become governor of his home state.
“Touring all 92 counties every year, I’ve met so many Hoosiers and heard their challenges and their victories, large and small. It’s a truly incredible state filled with the most good-hearted, hardworking people in the world,” Braun said. “It was my honor to serve them here in this body, and I can’t wait to continue the adventure back home again in Indiana as your next governor.”
Family, friends and C-SPAN
The retiring senators thanked their staff and family members for support. Democratic Sen. Debbie Stabenow of Michigan used part of her post-Thanksgiving farewell address to acknowledge her mother, who died in November at age 98.
“I suspect she’s tuning in to heaven’s version of C-SPAN right now, watching me, just as she has always been watching and supporting me my whole life,” Stabenow said.
Democratic Sen. Benjamin L. Cardin of Maryland, the chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, has been a Capitol Hill fixture for decades, representing the Baltimore area in the House for 20 years before serving three terms in the Senate. He was among several departing senators to use his final floor speech to emphasize the importance of protecting the democratic system.
“Never has it been more important for us to fight to protect our democracy, to defend the rule of law, and to stand up for our common values. As senators, you need to demonstrate to the American public by your actions that you can practice civility, that differences can be resolved constructively without harsh terms,” Cardin said.
The 118th Congress also featured a pair of short-term Democratic senators, Laphonza Butler of California and George S. Helmy of New Jersey, both of whom were appointed and have already vacated their seats for their elected successors.
“To my mother, who has watched more C-SPAN in the last 14 months than in all of her 71 years, my brothers, my sisters, aunts, uncles, cousins and dear friends, just when the clouds get low and start to look a little heavy, it has been your cards, your texts, your letters, your visits to D.C. that truly have brought out the sunshine,” Butler said in her farewell speech. “So, to all of you, I am deeply grateful and cannot thank you enough.”
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