Voinovich decides not to seek reelection

Voinovich issued a statement in advance of an already scheduled news conference Monday afternoon.

"After prayerful consideration and much thought, my wife Janet and I have decided that I will not seek a third term in the United States Senate," Voinovich said in a statement posted this morning on his Web site. "These next two years in office, for me, will be the most important years that I have served in my entire political career. I must devote my full time, energy and focus to the job I was elected to do, the job in front of me, which seeking a third term -- with the money-raising and campaigning that it would require -- would not allow me to do."

Voinovich serves as ranking member of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Subcommittee on Oversight of Government Management, the Federal Workforce and the District of Columbia. In that capacity, he has focused on federal personnel reforms, including efforts to strengthen the link between pay and performance.

Voinovich becomes the fourth Republican Senate incumbent to decide to step down in 2010.