Everytown Statement on Senator Toomey’s Decision Not to Run For Reelection in 2022

NEW YORK — Today, Everytown for Gun Safety and its grassroots networks, Moms Demand Action and Students Demand Action, released the following statements about Senator Pat Toomey’s (R-PA) decision not to run for reelection in 2022. 

“Senator Toomey has never hesitated to cross partisan lines when it comes to keeping Pennsylvanians safe from gun violence, and we’ll miss him when he leaves Congress,” said John Feinblatt, president of Everytown for Gun Safety. “Senator Toomey’s ability to get elected as a gun sense Republican is further proof that gun safety is a winning issue on both sides of the aisle.”

“As the co-lead of Manchin-Toomey, Senator Toomey stood up for gun safety in the wake of the tragedy at Sandy Hook,” said Shannon Watts, founder of Moms Demand Action. “We thank Senator Toomey for his leadership.”

Senator Toomey has long been a champion for gun safety, even when it wasn’t easy or politically expedient to be one. Most notably, he and Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV) led the fight for background checks after the Sandy Hook School shooting by authoring and championing what became known as Manchin-Toomey. Senator Toomey, a gun owner himself, has also negotiated with the Trump administration in favor of background checks and introduced additional bipartisan legislation to strengthen the background check system.

Senator Toomey’s commitment to gun safety demonstrates that gun safety is a winning issue on both sides of the aisle. For example, 93% of American voters –– including 89 percent of Republicans and 87 percent of gun owners –– support background checks on all gun sales, and similar majorities of the American people support red flag laws.