Oneonta, N.Y. - State Senator James L. Seward has announced he will be retiring from the Senate at the end of this year and will not seek re-election.
Seward, who represents the state's 51st district, said that he has responded well to his cancer treatments, but was told his treatment will continue and could limit his work schedule. He went on to say “This is the right decision for my health, my family and the people of the District,”.
Seward was elected to the State Senate in 1986.
He is the seventh Republican state senator to announce they're not running for re-election in 2020