U.S. Senator Lamar Alexander (R-TN) announced this morning he will not seek re-election in 2020.

“I will not be a candidate for re-election to the United States Senate in 2020. The people of Tennessee have been very generous, electing me to serve more combined years as governor and senator than anyone else from our state,” Alexander said in a statement.

He said he is “deeply grateful” for the opportunity to serve, and added, “but now it is time for someone else to have that privilege. I have gotten up every day thinking that I could help make our state and country a little better, and gone to bed most nights thinking that I have.”

Alexander pledged to continue serving “with that same spirit” during the remaining two years of his term.

Alexander was first elected to the U.S. Senate in 2002, after having served as governor of Tennessee from 1979 through 1987 and as president of the University of Tennessee. He also served under the late President George H.W. Bush as U.S. Secretary of Education.

As of October 2019, Alexander will become the longest-serving Tennessean with the most combined years as governor and U.S. senator.