Sen. Warner won’t seek sixth term

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Clinton: A ‘friend and colleague’
The GOP nominated Warner for the Senate in 1978 after the party’s first choice, Richard Obenshain, was killed in a plane crash. Warner was elected by just 4,721 votes out of 1.2 million cast. He was easily re-elected in 1984 and 1990. He beat Mark Warner by 5 percentage points in 1996 and was unopposed in 2002.

In announcing his decision, Warner cited his age and recalled the strain of his trip to Iraq.

“It was day and night, jumping on and off helicopters, cargo planes, shaking hands, quickly eating and moving on,” Warner said. He said that he withstood it, but didn’t know if he could do so again years later.

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Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton said she will miss her “friend and colleague.”

“At a time when the tone in Washington is so often defined by partisanship and rancor, Senator Warner has always risen above the fray,” Clinton said.

In 1996, the conservative wing of his own party tried to deny Warner a fourth term. Warner had angered conservatives two years earlier by opposing GOP nominee Oliver North’s bid to unseat Democratic Sen. Charles S. Robb. Warner declared the Iran-Contra figure unfit for public office and backed an independent who drew enough votes from moderates to ensure Robb’s re-election.

Angered by what they viewed as party disloyalty, GOP conservatives backed former Reagan administration budget director Jim Miller to challenge Warner for renomination. Warner easily defeated Miller in a primary.

Warner mended his relationship with the GOP by supporting the successful campaigns of Gilmore for governor in 1997 and George Allen for Robb’s Senate seat in 2000.

Second longest-serving senator
Gov. Timothy M. Kaine, a Democrat, called Warner “a good friend, a great Virginian, and a true statesman.”

“All Virginians should honor his distinguished leadership,” Kaine said.

Warner is Virginia’s second longest-serving senator, with a tenure surpassed only by that of Sen. Harry F. Byrd Sr., who held office from 1933 to 1965.