Goodbye Chuck Hagel. You’ll be Missed

Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters.


Senator Chuck Hagel (R-NE) is retiring at the end of his term, and it’s a loss for both Democrats and Republicans. hagel130.gif

The Democrats lose one of Congress’s most passionate and articulate critics of the Iraq War. The Republicans lose an incumbent in an election cycle in which their ranks are already vulnerable.

Former Nebraska senator and governor Bob Kerrey, a Democrat, is considering emerging from retirement to run for Hagel’s seat, and the odds he would get it are high. Add in the fact that John Warner, a Republican, is vacating a Virginia senate seat that will likely be won by Mark Warner, a Democrat, and you’ve got what looks like a much small minority for the GOP.

By the way, there was once tons and tons of buzz around a Hagel candidacy for president. I was a somewhattongue-in-cheek proponent. I never really wanted the man to be president, but he was principled, reasoned, rational, and sincere. He’ll be missed.

Update: Ed.-in-Chief Clara Jeffery writes in and speculates that Hagel’s retirement clears the way for him to be Hillary’s Secretary of Defense.

Fact:

Mother Jones was founded as a nonprofit in 1976 because we knew corporations and billionaires wouldn't fund the type of hard-hitting journalism we set out to do.

Today, reader support makes up about two-thirds of our budget, allows us to dig deep on stories that matter, and lets us keep our reporting free for everyone. If you value what you get from Mother Jones, please join us with a tax-deductible donation today so we can keep on doing the type of journalism 2022 demands.

payment methods

Fact:

Today, reader support makes up about two-thirds of our budget, allows us to dig deep on stories that matter, and lets us keep our reporting free for everyone. If you value what you get from Mother Jones, please join us with a tax-deductible donation today so we can keep on doing the type of journalism 2022 demands.

payment methods

We Recommend

Latest

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

Get our award-winning magazine

Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

Subscribe

Support our journalism

Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation.

Donate