Former Chattanooga Mayor Bob Corker has re-affirmed that he does not plan to run for re-election to the U.S. Senate.
He announced last fall that he was retiring from the Senate, but had been receiving some encouragement to change his mind.
Todd Womack of his staff said, "Over the past several months, Senator Corker has been encouraged by people across Tennessee and in the Senate to reconsider his decision not to seek re-election. Based on the outpouring of support, we spent the last few days doing our due diligence and a clear path for re-election was laid out.
"However, at the end of the day, the senator believes he made the right decision in September and will be leaving the Senate when his term expires at the end of 2018. When he ran for the Senate in 2006, he told Tennesseans that he couldn’t imagine serving for more than two terms because he has always been drawn to the citizen legislator model and believes public service should be missional.
"This has been the greatest privilege of his life and he is forever grateful to the people of the Volunteer State for the opportunity to serve our state and country."
Senator Lamar Alexander said, “Bob Corker is a terrific United States senator and a good friend. I was disappointed in his decision not to run for re-election but respect that decision.
"I invited Marsha Blackburn to breakfast this morning. We had a good discussion about a variety of issues that we both care about and how we might work together to make the Senate a more effective institution.”