Rep. Terri Sewell will not run for Alabama Senate seat, expects to remain in U.S. House

 U.S. Rep. Terri Sewell declared earlier today she would not run for the U.S. Senate seat Sen. Richard Shelby is leaving after 2022. 

Sewell, who has addressed Alabama's seventh District for 10 years and is the lone Democrat in the state's Congressional appointment, had recently said she would "look very closely" at running for the open seat.

"I am humbled by the overwhelming requests I have received to run for Senator Shelby’s seat in 2022," Sewell said in an official statement. "After careful consideration and consultation with my family and closest advisors, I have decided that the unfinished business of my home district, Alabama’s 7th Congressional District, is far too important for me to seek higher office at this time. I am singularly focused on my work to get H.R. 4, The John R. Lewis Voting Rights Act, signed into law this Congress and to continue my work to expand economic opportunities for my constituents in Alabama’s 7th District."