Hatch will retire in 2018 if he wins reelection

Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) will make his next term in the Senate his last if he wins reelection, the seven-term senator said Tuesday. Hatch will turn 78 in March, and would be in his mid-80s when he would be running for an eighth term. “I was a leader of the Sagebrush Rebellion that started during my first term in the Senate. The state has made it clear that they expect the land to be conveyed by the end of 2014," Hatch said, referring to his advocacy for Utah's public lands. "I want to see the transfer of land happen, and the end of the need for a Sagebrush Rebellion, during my last term in the Senate." Hatch is facing major primary challenges this cycle, the most threatening coming from former state Sen. Dan Liljenquist (R). Tea Party groups and others who see Hatch as insufficiently conservative are eager to knock off the incumbent, who has served in the Senate for more than three decades...more