The octogenarian Republican was first elected to the Senate in 1978, and his leaving will shake up the ranks of Republican leadership



Thad Cochran of Mississippi announced on Monday that he would step down from the US Senate on 1 April.

The octogenarian Republican was first elected to the Senate in 1978 but has long been plagued by ill health and has not played an active role on Capitol Hill in recent years. Cochran’s decision to step down means that the state’s Republican governor, Phil Bryant, will appoint a replacement who will serve until November. Then a special election will be held to fill the remaining two years of Cochran’s term.

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The decision by Cochran to resign will shake up the ranks of Republican leadership. Cochran currently serves as chair of the powerful appropriations committee and was poised to succeed Orrin Hatch of Utah to be third in line for the presidency as president pro tempore if Republicans maintained control of the Senate in the 2018 midterm elections.

Cochran’s most recent race for re-election in 2014 was marked by a ferocious Republican primary, which was a harbinger of Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign as a showdown between Republican elites and insurgents. The Tea Partier Chris McDaniel mounted a primary challenge to Cochran and outpolled the incumbent in the first round of voting but Cochran ended up winning a narrow majority in the runoff during a campaign marred by scandal.