CINCINNATI — On Jan. 3, JD Vance will be sworn in as Ohio's new senator and Rob Portman, who held the position for over a decade, will return to his home in Terrace Park.
"I will miss a lot of it," said Portman. "Now, I miss getting stuff done and then watching the results. What I won't miss is the commute, back and forth, which I've done now, for almost 30 years. We've always kept our family here. We raised our kids here in Cincinnati. And you know, I just can't wait to be back full time. But it's, you know, it's bittersweet. It's time."
Portman served in the White House through three presidents' terms — Reagan, George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush. He held a seat in the House of Representatives for 12 years and spent another 12 years in the Senate.
Through all of it, he says he never forgot about his Queen City roots, joining the fight to form coalitions and push through a bipartisan infrastructure deal that would fix the overloaded but crucial Brent Spence Bridge.
"The best thing is representing your neighbors, you know, the representing people and being able to help them," said Portman. "My greatest moments in the House and Senate has been when legislation gets passed and it gets implemented in a way that actually helps people. So my great joy is going to be, you know, when I'm driving across the Brent Spence Bridge five, six years from now, and it's fixed."
During his career in politics, Portman said he's particularly proud of his work on drug prevention and the opioid crisis; he started "Prevention First", which works to reduce the risk of addiction.
Over the 24 years he served, Portman introduced more than 400 bills, 300 of which were bipartisan.
Still, Portman said he's ready to return home full time.
"I feel really fortunate that I had the honor to do it," he said. "I appreciate the fact that people let me do it and voted for me and supported me and encouraged me and gave me input, but it's time for someone else."
That doesn't mean his retirement will be a quiet one, however. Portman said he's already eyeing a new project: A center at the University of Cincinnati that would focus on programs for public service.
"Part of what I want to do after getting out is to work on that issue and talk about, how do you get back to a civil conversation? Not to agree, but you have to figure out how to get to 'yes,'" he said.
Portman's family also owns the Golden Lamb restaurant in Lebanon and he said he plans to get more involved with that in his newfound spare time.
"I'm not going to be sitting at home," he said. "No, but I can't wait to be home more and spend time with my family and three great kids. I want to spend more time with them as they're launching their own careers."
