Renacci pledges to Senate term limit

7/10/2018
BY LIZ SKALKA
BLADE POLITICS WRITER

Ohio’s race for U.S. Senate has yet to be decided, but one candidate has already said he won’t overstay his time in office.

Rep. Jim Renacci is pushing for greater access to quality health care for seniors.
Rep. Jim Renacci is pushing for greater access to quality health care for seniors.

Republican Jim Renacci on Tuesday signed a term-limit pledge in Cincinnati, promising he won’t serve more than two six-year terms if elected.

Mr. Renacci is serving his fourth term representing the 16th District in the U.S. House of Representatives. The pledge he signed indicates he would also support an amendment to limit U.S. House terms to three, two-year terms.

“There are too many career politicians in Washington,” Mr. Renacci said in a statement. “The problem with career politicians is that they make bad decisions based on their next election instead of the next generation.”

Mr. Renacci accused his opponent, Democratic incumbent Sherrod Brown, of supporting congressional term limits until his self-imposed limit in 2004. Mr. Brown served in Congress from 1993 until becoming a U.S. senator in 2007.

“Twenty years ago, Sherrod Brown said term limits were needed to ‘cleanse the system’ of career politicians,” Mr. Renacci said. “But once he became one of those career politicians, Brown broke his promise to the people of Ohio and continues to this day to run for office.”

Mr. Brown’s supporters rebuffed what they called a political “stunt.”

“Congressman Renacci’s word is worthless,” said Preston Maddock, communications director for Friends of Sherrod Brown. “He’s already said he doesn’t believe in term limits and, as a four-term Congressman, he’s in violation of this gimmick pledge. Instead of setting fake deadlines for his time in office, Ohio would be better off without Congressman Renacci’s anti-worker, self-serving agenda in Congress at all. His hypocrisy today is consistent with the fact that Congressman Renacci only looks out for himself.”

Contact Liz Skalka at lskalka@theblade.com, 419-724-6199, or on Twitter @lizskalka.