Rep. Steny H. Hoyer will not run for reelection. Thus ends a nearly six-decade career in elected office that spanned his days in Maryland government to a two-decade run as the No. 2 U.S. House Democrat. Via The Washington Post:

Hoyer, the third-longest-serving member of the House, said he reached the decision over the holidays with his family, feeling content with a career that never brought the brass ring of the House speaker’s gavel but put him at the center of this century’s biggest debates.

“At this young age, it’s probably premature,” the 86-year-old joked in a two-hour interview Tuesday at his sprawling home on the Patuxent River in St. Mary’s County.

Now three years out of leadership, Hoyer remains an active legislator but feared ending up like many other elderly lawmakers, becoming physically or mentally frail in their final days in office.

“I did not want to be one of those members who clearly stayed, outstayed his or her ability to do the job,” said Hoyer, who plans to formally announce his retirement plans in a floor speech Thursday.