“The people of Illinois have honored me with this responsibility longer than anyone elected to the Senate in our state’s history,” he said in a video posted on Bluesky. Photo by Annabelle Gordon/UPI | License Photo

April 23 (UPI) — Sen. Dick Durbin announced Wednesday that he will not seek a sixth term in the Senate in 2026.

“The decision of whether to run for reelection has not been easy,” Durbin, D-Ill., posted to social media. “But in my heart, I know it’s time to pass the torch.”

Durbin, 80, was a U.S. House member from Illinois from 1983 until his 1996 Senate election to succeed Democratic Sen. Paul Simon.

“The people of Illinois have honored me with this responsibility longer than anyone elected to the Senate in our state’s history,” he said in a video posted on Bluesky.

“I am truly grateful,” he continued.

Durbin, top Democrat on the Senate’s Judiciary Committee from 2021 until this year, led the 2022 confirmation of Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson as the first Black woman to sit on the nation’s high court.

On Wednesday, Durbin said in a video that he has “always tried to stand up to power.”

He was one of 10 Democrats who voted with Senate Republicans to pass the GOP-crafted stopgap spending bill last month, telling reporters it was the “responsible thing to do” in order to avoid a government shutdown.

Durbin said the challenges facing the United States are “historic” and “unprecedented.”

“The threats to our democracy and way of life are very real,” he added Wednesday in his video statement, vowing to to fight in his remaining time.

Durbin introduced the 2001 DREAM Act to give undocumented immigrants who grew up in America a chance to become a citizen.

He later successfully advocated to end the deportation of “Dreamers” to then-President Barack Obama, Durbin’s former home state Senate colleague, which led to the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program.

Durbin is now the fourth Democrat to pass on a re-election campaign, joining Michigan’s Gary Peters, Tina Smith of Minnesota and Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire.

Meanwhile, a list of people have been rumored as possible names to replace Durbin including U.S. Reps. Raja Krishnamoorthi, Lauren Underwood and Robin Kelly, Illinois Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton and state Sen. Robert Peters.