Announcement of Not Seeking Re-election to the U.S. Senate – Feb. 13, 2025

Senator Tina Smith delivered a video statement on her official X (formerly Twitter) account on February 13, 2025, announcing that she is not running for re-election and thanking the state of Minnesota.

I wanted you to hear directly from me that I have decided not to run for re-election to the United States Senate in 2026. I have loved my job as United States senator. And also, after twenty years of hard and rewarding work in the public sector, I’m ready to spend more time with my family.

You know, when I first came to the Senate, I didn’t have any grandchildren, and now Archie and I have four, and our sons Sam and Mason, and daughters-in-law Emily and Julia are now all living in Minneapolis so we can be together.

My father is going to be turning 95 this summer, and I am blessed to have a large extended family of siblings and nieces and nephews. And one of my great joys is to know that I have time to spend more time with them, doing sleepovers and helping out from time to time when the kids need me. So this decision is not political, it is entirely personal. But it is not lost on me that our country is in need of strong progressive leadership right now, maybe more than ever.

So there are two things on my mind. The first is that I have nearly two full years left in my Senate term, and I plan to use every single day working as I can to represent your interests in the United States Senate, and make sure your voices are heard. And also, since I don't have to worry about running a re-election campaign, I can focus entirely on this job right now.

And second, we have a deep bench of political talent in Minnesota — a group of leaders that are more than ready to pick up the work and move us forward. And I am excited to make room for them to move forward.

At the end of the day, what I am going to miss the most about the job is not the perks and certainly not all of the attention. It’s going to be that feeling that I have from all of you of being invited into your living rooms to hear what is happening in your lives and what that's really like for you. That has been an inspiration to me every single day I have served. So, I’m grateful to that, and I’m going to spend the next two years figuring out how to thank you all, so thank you so much, Minnesota.

Smith, T. [@SenTinaSmith]. (2025, February 13). I wanted you to hear directly from me that I have decided not to run for re-election to the United States Senate in 2026... [Video attached] [Tweet]. X. https://x.com/SenTinaSmith/status/1890068717486452772