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Sen. Barbara Mikulski, the Maryland Democrat who is the longest-serving woman in congressional history, announced Monday that she will leave the Senate next year at the end of her fifth term.

Mikulski, 78 and in good health, departs the way she came in with a sharp tongue, an unabashed liberalism, and a reputation for straight talk. She won all ten of her elections to the House and then the Senate with support from more than 60 percent of voters.

She told a news conference in Baltimore where she still lives, just five minutes from the house where she grew up that theres nothing gloomy about this announcement.... Im not frustrated with the Senate. Rather, she said, she decided that it made more sense at this stage of life to shift her focus: Do I spend my time raising money or raising hell to meet your day-to-day needs?

Mikulskis decision surprised many Maryland Democrats, and set off a potentially wild scramble to replace her. Maryland has a lot of talent and theyll be telling you about it within the next 10 minutes, Mikulski quipped.

Despite her continued political popularity at home, the first woman to chair the powerful Appropriations Committee had to give up that position this year when Democrats lost control of the Senate. And Mikulski seemed rattled by former lieutenant governor Anthony Browns loss to Republican Larry Hogan in last falls governors race despite the Democrats better than 2-to-1 advantage in party registration.

Sen. Barbara Mikulski, the longest serving woman in the history of Congress, said Monday that asking herself, who am I campaigning for? led her to her decision to retire. (AP)

In the Senate, Mikulski was never one for grand legislative initiatives or globetrotting foreign policy interests. She focused on getting things done for her constituents, pushing for highway funding, environmental safeguards for the Chesapeake Bay, and security at the Port of Baltimore.

Often dubbed the Senates meanest member, she was regularly described as prickly by friends and foes alike. Yet she became a role model for generations of women in politics in both parties.

She was the second woman (and first Democratic woman) elected to the Senate who did not succeed her husband or father in elective office; Paula Hawkins, a Florida Republican,was the first, in 1980.

While I was the first, I didnt want to be the only, she said Monday. She choked up briefly as she thanked the voters who have supported her through five decades in office.

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Mikulski, a role model for generations of women in politics, to retire in 2016