Alexander says his move was rooted in his desire to foster consensus in the Senate. Alexander quitting leadership post

Sen. Lamar Alexander will resign from his influential Republican leadership post in January, a stunning decision by the former two-time presidential candidate who has played a central role shaping GOP strategy during President Barack Obama’s time in office.

In a letter sent Tuesday morning to Republican senators — first reported by POLITICO — Alexander said he will cut short his leadership term by quitting as Republican Conference chairman, the No. 3 job, and abandoning his hopes to ascend to the powerful Senate Republican whip job in the next Congress.


Alexander says the decision was rooted in his desire to foster consensus in the gridlocked Senate, a role he felt constrained playing while spearheading the partisan Senate GOP messaging machine.

“Stepping down from leadership will liberate me to spend more time working for results on the issues I care most about,” he said in the letter. “I want to do more to make the Senate a more effective institution so that it can deal better with serious issues. There are different ways to provide leadership within the Senate. After nine years here, this is how I believe I can now make my greatest contribution. For these same reasons, I do not plan to seek a leadership position in the next Congress.”

Alexander — the 71-year-old former Tennessee governor and U.S. education secretary under President George H.W. Bush who unsuccessfully sought his party’s presidential nomination in 1996 and 2000 by portraying himself as a populist crusader — will still serve in the Senate and plans to run for reelection for a third term in 2014.

Alexander has already informed Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of his decision but kept the news closely guarded until he informed his colleagues Tuesday morning.

By deciding to return to the rank and file, Alexander has reordered the Republican pecking order in the Senate.

Next in line to fill his third-ranking spot would be Sen. John Thune, the 50-year-old South Dakotan who decided against mounting a run for the Republican presidential nomination and currently sits at the No. 4 post as chairman of the Republican Policy Committee. Wyoming Sen. John Barrasso, the 59-year-old orthopedic surgeon who has quickly jumped the party hierarchy since he joined the Senate in 2007 and now serves as vice chairman of the conference, could then ascend to Thune’s position.

Thune told reporters Tuesday morning he plans to run for conference chairman in January.

Alexander’s decision may create an easier transition to fill the Republican whip position that will be open in January 2013 when the No. 2 spot will be vacated by the retirement of Arizona Sen. Jon Kyl at the end of his term.

Alexander announced earlier this year that he planned to run for whip in the next Congress, setting up a potentially divisive leadership race against Texas Sen. John Cornyn, the 59-year-old National Republican Senatorial Committee chairman. Thune also could run for the position as chief vote counter for the party.

But no final decision will be made on the next leadership team until the Senate Republican Conference holds a secret ballot election behind closed doors, ensuring that any number of candidates could emerge to fill the influential positions.

The behind-the-scenes jockeying for these jobs is more than just a game of musical chairs. The leaders help direct the Republican strategy in a body where the minority has enormous power to affect legislation — choosing when to mount united opposition against Democrats, take no position at all or foster bipartisan deals. Moreover, senators in GOP leadership ranks could eventually succeed McConnell atop the Republican hierarchy, especially the next GOP whip, a spot that will grow even more influential if Republicans take back the majority in next year’s Senate elections.

For that reason, Alexander’s decision surprised Hill insiders, since he could have amassed even greater power in the next Congress to heavily influence Republican politics and help dictate national policy.

While facing off against Cornyn in a contested leadership race would prove to be a challenging affair, especially if Cornyn’s NRSC helped deliver a Senate Republican majority, Alexander is an easy-going politician with close friendships in the clubby chamber, making it exceedingly difficult to predict the outcome of a secretive leadership race that often amounts to little more than a popularity contest.

But his affable nature and calls for bipartisanship also could prove to be a liability at a time when Republican politics has shifted markedly to the right, with tea party activists demanding that their party adhere to strict conservative orthodoxy that has inspired a new breed of fire-breathing lawmakers on Capitol Hill.

Following decades in public life — that began with a run for governor at age 34, where he traveled 1,000 miles across the state by foot and sported his now-infamous red plaid shirt — Alexander believes his new focus in the final stage of his career should be on solving intractable policy disputes.

“I said to Tennesseans when I first ran for the Senate that I would serve with conservative principles and an independent attitude,” he said in the letter. “I will continue to serve in that same way. I am a very Republican Republican. I intend to be more, not less, in the thick of resolving serious issues.”

By no means will Alexander’s influence be diminished altogether. In a body where any one senator can force leaders to bend to his or her will, Alexander could become even more powerful if he chooses to buck the party line and broker bipartisan accords with Democrats. Alexander boasts a conservative voting record and generally sides with Republicans on hot-button issues, like during the debate over the 2010 health care legislation, when he squared off against Obama in a nationally televised forum at Blair House.

But Alexander’s natural tendency is to seek bipartisan deals. He’s called for a new Manhattan Project to create low-carbon economy, supported a health care plan drafted by Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and former Sen. Bob Bennett (R-Utah) and has long worked with Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.) to cut down on pollution from coal-fired power plants. More recently, Alexander was the first member of Senate Republican leadership to back the so-called Gang of Six deficit reduction plan, a bipartisan approach that called for $3.7 trillion worth of debt relief, including raising tax revenues.

Backed by many senior senators, Alexander became conference chairman in 2007 after then-Sen. Trent Lott abruptly resigned his seat, paving the way for Kyl to take the whip job and allowing Alexander to easily defeat conservative North Carolina Sen. Richard Burr, 31-16, for the No. 3 position.

But a year earlier, Alexander wasn’t so lucky. He was widely presumed to win a race for Republican whip against Lott in 2006, but the Mississippi Republican pulled off a shocking one-vote victory that left Alexander and his supporters baffled.