United States Sen. Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire will not seek reelection in 2026, she said in a video statement released Wednesday.

Shaheen, a 78-year-old Democrat who served three two-year terms as the Granite State’s governor, said it has been an “incredible honor” representing New Hampshire in the U.S. Senate, but it is time to pass the torch.

“After careful consideration, I’m announcing that I have made the difficult decision not to seek reelection to the senate in 2026. It’s just time,” she said.

The first woman to be elected as New Hampshire’s governor, Shaheen first ran to represent New Hampshire in the upper chamber of Congress in 2002 but lost to former U.S. Sen. John Sununu. Six years later, Shaheen would go on to defeat Sununu, and six years after that she defended her senate seat in an election against former U.S. Sen. Scott Brown of Massachusetts.

Shaheen was sent back to the senate a third time in 2020 after defeating Republican nominee Bryant “Corky” Messner, becoming the first New Hampshire Democrat to be elected to a third full senate term.

The senator said her announcement is not a retirement and that she will be on the job through the remaining months of her term while working “everyday over the next two years and beyond to continue to try and make a difference for the people of New Hampshire and this country.”

“From the bottom of my heart, thank you, New Hampshire,” she said.

This is a developing story.