Maine’s Cohen Won’t Seek 4th Senate Term

Sen. William S. Cohen (R-Maine), who rose to national prominence when, as a freshman representative, he cast one of the first Republican votes to impeach President Richard Nixon and later played a leading role in the Iran-Contra hearings, announced Tuesday that he will not seek a fourth term.

Cohen, serving his 24th year in Congress, said he wants to explore unspecified “new challenges” involving international trade. The budget standoff contributed significantly to his decision, he said.

“The recent budget stalemate in Washington over the past several weeks has been instrumental in crystallizing this issue for me,” Cohen said.

The GOP moderate becomes the 13th current senator to decide not to seek reelection, the most in U.S. history. The previous record was 12 in 1896.

Cohen had been leaving the door open to a reelection bid next fall and had given reporters no hint of his announcement Tuesday. His own press secretary, Kathy Gest, said he did not tell her until late Monday.

Cohen, 55, said he reserved the option of returning “to public service at some future time.”

In an interview, however, he dismissed speculation that he might become the presidential running mate of Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole (R-Kan.).

Long considered something of a maverick, Cohen was criticized by some Republicans for being the only GOP senator to vote against the party’s original budget bill last fall. He also has supported the right to an abortion, along with legislation to stop violence against women.

His first surge of publicity came while serving on the House impeachment panel before Nixon’s 1974 resignation.

Cohen also served on the Iran-Contra investigating committee with his longtime Maine colleague and friend, former Senate Majority Leader George J. Mitchell, drawing on the latter’s expertise in intelligence and foreign-policy matters to ask pointed questions of the witnesses.