RICHMOND — Longtime Arlington lawmaker Mary Margaret Whipple said Friday on the Senate floor that she will not run for re-election.
“It was not an easy decision to make,” she said. “I [love] being in the Senate, and certainly it’s been such an honor to be here and to be the Democratic Caucus Chair, in a way I do feel like a Mother Hen to the caucus, so I’m going to miss that very much,” she said.
Whipple, 70, previously led the Arlington school board, and was first elected to the state Senate in 1995.
She becomes the second Northern Virginia senator to announce her retirement during the 2011 session. Longtime lawmaker Sen. Patsy Ticer, D-Alexandria, also has announced that she will not seek re-election in the fall.
