WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Democratic U.S. Senator Dick Durbin will not seek reelection next year, he said on Wednesday, setting the stage for a competitive intra-party contest to fill his seat in the Democratic-leaning state of Illinois.

The retirement of the 80-year-old, 30-year veteran of the Senate comes as younger, more progressive Democrats and older, more establishment party leaders are debating what face of the party to put forward in next year’s midterm elections, when control of both chambers of Congress will be up for grabs.

“The decision of whether to run for re-election has not been easy. I truly love the job of being a United States senator,” Durbin, the chamber’s No. 2 Democrat, wrote on social media. “But in my heart, I know it’s time to pass the torch.”

President Donald Trump’s Republicans currently hold majorities in both the Senate and House of Representatives, and incumbent presidents’ parties have historically lost seats in Congress in midterm elections.

Trump’s approval rating currently stands at 42%, having slipped a few points since his January inauguration, Reuters/Ipsos polling shows.

Democrats will face an uphill battle to try to reclaim the Senate, where Republicans hold a 53-47 majority. They are defending four competitive seats, including in Minnesota, New Hampshire and Michigan, where popular incumbents opted not to seek reelection, and in Georgia, where first-term incumbent Democratic Senator Jon Ossoff is seeking reelection.

Republicans, by contrast, are defending just three seats seen as competitive by nonpartisan political ratings agencies, in Maine, North Carolina and Ohio. A Democratic sweep of all seven seats seen as competitive by nonpartisan political analysts would produce a 50-50 Senate where Republican Vice President JD Vance would hold the tie-breaking vote.

A Democratic majority would require the party to oust a Republican incumbent in a heavily conservative state, such as Texas, Kentucky or Florida.

Primary Contenders

Possible candidates for the Democratic nomination to succeed Durbin include U.S. Representatives Raja Krishnamoorthi and Lauren Underwood, as well as Illinois Lieutenant Governor Juliana Stratton.

Krishnamoorthi, 51, was born in New Delhi, India and raised in Illinois. He holds a position in House Democratic leadership. Like Krishnamoorthi, Underwood, 38, represents a northern Illinois district that includes parts of Chicago.

Republicans who so far have announced their candidacy include Doug Bennett, who has held a local government position and is a former candidate for a U.S. House seat; and John Goodman, an Air Force veteran who has worked in law enforcement.

The liberal Durbin has spent decades as an advocate of immigration reform and a defender of “dreamers,” those who were brought illegally into the United States as children and have grown up in America but are largely unable to win citizenship.

With Trump taking a hard-line approach toward immigrants, Durbin is unlikely to see millions of these youths win permanent residency or citizenship before he leaves office.

“His deep commitment to justice, his tireless advocacy for Americans in need, and his wisdom in leadership have left an indelible mark on this institution, the United States, and his beloved Illinois,” Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer, a former Capitol Hill roommate of Durbin, said in a statement.

As the head of the Senate Judiciary Committee during President Joe Biden’s tenure, Durbin helped secure the confirmation of 235 appointments to the federal judiciary, including Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, a number that surpassed Trump’s first-term tally by one and included a record number of women and people of color named to the bench.

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(Reporting by Katherine Jackson and Richard Cowan; additional reporting by Nate Raymond in Boston; editing by Rami Ayyub, Scott Malone and Diane Craft)