The announcement by two moderate Republican senators — Rob Portman of Ohio and Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania — that they will not seek re-election is not shocking, but it is a shame.

Some of the people the Grand Old Party needs most, not only for big-tent diversity but for wisdom, are heading for the exits.

Actually, they have been exiting since Donald Trump was nominated for president the first time — in 2016.

That was when the born-again populist, and former Democrat from New York, took over the Republican Party. His grip has only tightened since then because he has a passionate core constituency. Any Republican who has taken him on has been eliminated. And even Trump allies, like Mitch McConnell and Bill Barr, have been deemed not loyal enough.

One can be sure that any Republican who voted for impeachment, or who votes for conviction in the Senate, will get a primary challenger, quite possibly handpicked by the former president.

So it’s not much fun to be a traditional Republican these days.

The two retiring senators in question would not necessarily have faced primary challenges, but they look increasingly uncomfortable in their party and both seem worn out by the current hyperpartisanship and accompanying demonization in Washington.

Both Ohio and Pennsylvania have long and noble traditions of moderate Republican senators, congressmen and governors. But Ohio, in particular, now seems more and more red like Trump.

So, Messrs. Portman and Toomey heading for the gates is understandable. And they have every right.

But if moderate and old-school Republicans really want to hold on to that tradition in their party, some of them are going to have to stay and fight for it. So far, only Liz Cheney, in the House, seems up for the battle.

Moderate and traditional Republicans will not be able to effectively champion their vision of the party from outside of office. Ask former Sen. Jeff Flake or former U.S. Rep. Justin Amash.

Not for nothing, most senators who quit, especially after one or two terms, regret it. They lose the bully pulpit. But quitting the fight for the soul of their party, or simply inclusion in their party, is of a whole different, and higher, order. Leaving a Senate that needs your voice may be something more regrettable than a bad career move.

This doesn’t mean that the Republican Party wasn’t due for a shake-up. Its establishment had been asleep, or tone deaf, and virtually unreachable by ordinary citizens — on trade and deindustrializing the great Midwest, on border security and on the cultural divide — for years

The Republican establishment stopped listening decades ago.

But maybe the party needs a balance between Trumpian issues and tea party tactics and pragmatic Republican traditionalism — as epitomized by Ohio’s great James Rhodes in days past and Mike DeWine today, or Pennsylvania governors like William Scranton, Richard Thornburgh and Tom Ridge.

Most senators see a president looking back at them when they brush their teeth in the morning. Some moderate Republican senator, someday, needs to see a fighter.

First Published: January 30, 2021, 5:00 a.m.