Richard Shelby Out!

Far-right Alabama senator Richard Shelby is retiring.

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The gridlock in Washington, DC as well as the Republican Party being hostily being taken over by the former president Donald J. Trump has mainstream Republicans heading for the exits.

The latest is the 86-year old Alabama senator Richard Shelby.

Sen. Richard Shelby (R-AL) is retiring from the U.S. Senate. Shelby entered the senate as a Democrat only to join the Republicans shortly after the Revolution in 1993. 

"Today I announce that I will not seek a seventh term in the US Senate in 2022," the 86-year-old Republican said in a statement. "For everything, there is a season."

Shelby's announcement follows several other high profile Republican senators who've announced plans to not run for reelection in 2020. Sens. Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania and Rob Portman of Ohio have both said they will not run again when their term is up next year.

Shelby chaired the Appropriations, Rules, Banking and Intelligence committees in the Senate. He said he was proud of his work focusing on the economy, education, space exploration and, ever the appropriator, the Port of Mobile.

Shelby's decision will open up a fierce race in the deep red state. Possible candidates include Shelby's former chief of staff, Katie Boyd Britt, who is now the president and CEO of the Business Council of Alabama, Alabama Secretary of State John Merrill and Rep. Mo Brooks.

Brooks spokesman Clay Mills declined to comment.

Shelby was a southern Democrat in the early 1980s. He switched parties shortly after the Democrats lost control of Congress in the Bill Clinton years.

The Senate is currently split 50-50. Democrats are hopeful that the retirements of three other Republican senators —Portman, Toomey and Richard Burr of North Carolina — will help them cling onto their control of the Senate.

Republicans look posed to keep Alabama in their column. However, the Democrats have a challenge ahead to claim Ohio, Pennsylvania and North Carolina.

Trump carried Ohio by 8 points. He carried North Carolina by 4 points. President Joe Biden carried Pennsylvania by 3 points. The states are crucial for who gets full control of the Senate.

These three states are white, older and more conservative than usual. Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) easily beaten his challenger in a year that Ohio won the governor's mansion and full control of the state legislature.

With the split it means that Biden can't make too many mistakes given that Republicans are trying to turn the page on the insurrection to focus on how to undermine his agenda at every turn.

Former president Trump will be facing his second impeachment trial on Tuesday.