Patrick Leahy is currently the longest-serving lawmaker in the United States Senate and has been a part of the legislative house since 1974, when former President Richard Nixon was in the White House.

However, Leahy– who is currently 81 years old — announced on Monday that he would not seek re-election in the state of Vermont in the upcoming polls. He is a member of the Democratic party.

Who is Patrick Leahy?

Before associating himself with United States politics, Leahy went to Saint Michael’s College in Colchester and Georgetown University Law Center. Later, at the age of 34, he became the youngest Senator in the country to be elected from Vermont, the Green Mountain State. 

Apart from being the most senior lawmaker in the United States Senate, Leahy holds multiple key positions in various committees. These include being the Chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee.

He also holds positions in the Senate Agriculture Committee, Senate Judiciary Committee, Appropriations Subcommittee on State Department, Foreign Operations and Related Programs, according to the lawmaker’s official website.

Another key achievement in the Senator’s political career is linked to his involvement in the legislative initiatives taken in America after the deadly 9/11 attacks in 2001. Leahy spearheaded the negotiations in the United States Senate, which ensured the formation of the USA PATRIOT Act.

According to the Senator’s official website, he has been tagged as one of the top legislators who took part in solving environmental issues, which ranged from oil and gas exploration in wildlife refuges and Lake Champlain, the body of water that separates northern Vermont from upstate New York.

Leahy, 81, said he and his wife, Marcelle, have concluded that “it is time to pass the torch to the next Vermonter who will carry on this work for our great state. It is time to come home.”