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March 12 (UPI) -- Sen. Jeanne Shaheen announced Tuesday that she will retire next year from the U.S. Senate. "Today, I am announcing that I have made the difficult decision not to seek re-election to the Senate in 2026," Shaheen, D-N.H., said to constituents in a video. "It's just time," she added.
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Shaheen, 78, was initially elected to the Senate in 2008 after defeating Republican incumbent Sen. John Sununu. She was New Hampshire's governor from 1997 to 2003 -- the first elected woman to hold the state's top job in Concord and the first American woman to serve in both roles.
"It was a difficult decision, made more difficult by the current environment in the country -- by President [Donald] Trump and what he's doing right now," she told the New York Times.
Shaheen joins a growing list of senators who in recent weeks and months have opted to call it quits in 2026, including 66-year-old Sen. Gary Peters, D-Mich. and 67-year-old Sen. Tina Smith, D-Minn.
Currently, Republicans have a slim a 53-47 majority in the Senate. Democrats would need to win four seats to win a majority in 2026.
The retiring Democrats join 83-year-old former Senate Majority Leader Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.
"It's important for New Hampshire and the country to have a new generation of leadership," Shaheen, the top-ranking Democrat on the Senate's Foreign Relations Committee, said.
In a social media post, Shaheen's office stated how "together, we've made a difference."
"Together, we've established children's health insurance, supported our small businesses, taken on the opioid epidemic, advocated for our veterans, kept our water clean, fought for access to reproductive health care for women and more," it said.
Meanwhile, ex-Massachusetts Sen. Scott Brown, a Republican who lost a 2014 race for the seate against Shaheen, is being eyed by Republicans to run and was spotted at the U.S. Capitol building visiting with GOP lawmakers.
On Tuesday, when asked if he is thinking about a candidacy, Brown told The Hill, "yeah, of course."
Democrats, however, feel confident that the state's historical trends will be on their side.
"No Republican has won a Senate race in over a decade in New Hampshire, and that trend will continue in 2026," Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee spokesman David Bergstein told NBC. "This is exactly the kind of state where the building midterm backlash against Republicans will hit their candidates especially hard."
"Believe me, I am not retiring," Shaheen noted in the video announcement, adding that she is "determined to work every day over the next two years and beyond to continue to try to make a difference for the people of New Hampshire and this country."
