Republican Snowe bows out of ‘partisan’ US Senate

Olympia Snowe

WASHINGTON,  (Reuters) – U.S. Senator Olympia Snowe, one of the few remaining Republican moderates in Congress, stunned both parties yesterday by announcing she will not seek re-election for a fourth six-year term in November, citing partisan gridlock.

Olympia Snowe

Her surprise decision complicates Republican efforts to win control of the Senate from President Barack Obama’s Democrats in the November congressional elections.