RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) -- Another veteran Democrat in the state Senate won't return after 2010 as Sen. Larry Shaw announced Thursday he won't seek an eighth two-year term. The decision means the Legislature will lose its only openly practicing Muslim.
Shaw, a Democrat from Cumberland County who also served a term in the House, brings to seven the number of Senate Democrats since last fall who have resigned or said they won't run for re-election. The candidate filing period begins Monday.
Shaw, 60, didn't give a specific reason for stepping aside, and he wasn't immediately available for comment Thursday, according to a person who answered the phone at his Fayetteville home. Shaw said in a news release he plans to keep working with the family business -- he's the owner of a food services company -- and "in the international faith communities."
Shaw last year was named chairman of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, a civil rights group. The council said Shaw was the country's highest-ranking Muslim elected official before 2006.
"It has been a privilege and a sacrifice from family and associates to serve the greater good of society," Shaw said. "My public service duty has been fulfilled and now the torch of community servitude must be passed on."
Sen. Ellie Kinnaird, who joined the Senate with Shaw in 1997, said his presence has encouraged openness about differing faiths and has been a great example to his colleagues. After the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, Kinnaird said Shaw helped bring an imam to the Senate chamber to lead prayer to open a daily session.
"They are able to see that Muslims are good citizens and have a great deal to contribute not only to our discourse, but to everything that we do," said Kinnaird, D-Orange.
Shaw also spoke out in support of a 2007 ruling that allows any religious text, including the Quran, to be used to swear in witnesses or jurors in North Carolina courtrooms. He's also a strong supporter of charter schools and a moratorium of the death penalty.
"Time and again, Larry has been a voice of conscience in the Senate and contributed to a broader and richer world view for us all," Senate leader Marc Basnight, D-Dare, said in a news release.
Other previously announced departures by Senate Democrats include Majority Leader Tony Rand, who resigned Dec. 31 to run the state parole commission. Sen. David Hoyle, a finance committee co-chairman, and Sen. R.C. Soles, a 41-year veteran of the Legislature indicted last month on an assault charge for a shooting at his home, also won't run for re-election.
The moves have given hope to Senate Republicans for making gains this November in a chamber they haven't controlled since the late 1890s and where they currently hold 20 of the 50 seats.
