Vermont’s U.S. Sen. Patrick Leahy will not seek reelection after 46 years in office

It wasn’t immediately clear if his retirement would clear the way for a combative general election to replace him. But Vermont is one of the nation’s most reliably blue states, and Leahy has served alongside the progressive Bernie Sanders, Vermont’s junior senator, since 2007. Any Republican who seeks to succeed Leahy would face long odds.