Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-New Hampshire) said Wednesday that she will not seek reelection next year, handing Democrats another open seat to defend as they try to reclaim the Senate majority.

“Today, after careful consideration, I’m announcing that I have made the difficult decision not to seek reelection to the Senate in 2026,” Shaheen said in a video posted on social media. “It’s just time.”

Shaheen is the third Senate Democrat in competitive territory to announce their retirement ahead of next year’s election. The others are Sens. Gary Peters (Michigan) and Tina Smith (Minnesota).

Republicans control 53 seats in the Senate, and New Hampshire is a state Democrats cannot afford to lose as they try to chip away at the GOP majority.

Shaheen has served in the Senate since 2009 and was the first woman elected governor of New Hampshire. She is the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

The last Republican senator from New Hampshire was Kelly Ayotte, who lost reelection in 2016.

“No Republican has won a Senate race in over a decade in New Hampshire, and that trend will continue in 2026,” David Bergstein, a spokesman for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, said in a statement. “This is exactly the kind of a state where the building midterm backlash against Republicans will hit their candidates especially hard.”

Republicans are nonetheless expected to seriously contend the race in a state where President Donald Trump lost by 3 percentage points last year.

The head of the Senate GOP campaign arm, Sen. Tim Scott (South Carolina), cheered the news of Shaheen’s retirement.

“Another one!” Scott said in a statement, adding that “New Hampshire has a proud tradition of electing common-sense Republicans — and will do so again in 2026!”

The GOP candidates to succeed Shaheen could include Scott Brown, the former Massachusetts senator who later moved to New Hampshire. Brown wrote on X that he appreciated Shaheen’s service and added that “it’s time for New Hampshire to have someone in the delegation who fights for our priorities and stands with, not against, the Trump agenda.”

The state’s former GOP governor, Chris Sununu, has denied interest in running for Senate but told the Washington Times on Tuesday that he has “not ruled it out completely.” Sununu has split with Trump at times and backed one of his rivals in the 2024 Republican presidential primary, Nikki Haley.