CHICAGO — Attorney General Lisa Madigan explained today that she will not seek reelection and won’t run for any other office next year.

At the end of her term, she’ll have served 16 years as the state’s top lawyer, plus another 4 years in the Illinois Senate.

Madigan said she loves working and advocating for the people of Illinois, adding that she’s going to keep doing it through the end of my term.

The Republicans had planned to go after the Democratic incumbent hard by tying her as closely as they could to her wildly unpopular father.

But Madigan says she wasn’t worried about not winning next year, noting that people know her record and know she works hard for the people of the state.

Four years ago, AG Madigan ended years of speculation and announced she would not run for governor because of her father.

She said at the time that she felt strongly that the state would not be well served by having a governor and speaker of the House from the same family and that she would never run for governor if that would be the case.

AG Madigan said today that she doesn’t regret not having the opportunity to run for governor. But she has pointedly refused to rule out a future bid for governor some time in the future. She said she’s not running for anything next year, but she made sure to leave the the door open and said she just didn’t know what the future would bring.

Her father commented on her decision, saying, “No father could be prouder of his daughter’s personal and professional accomplishments, and I look forward to watching her continue her commitment to helping people in a new capacity.”