SHAWANO, WI- 6th Assembly District Representative Gary Tauchen says this term will be his last. The Representative made his comments on the WTCH Breakfast Club on  Monday.

“This will be my last session in the legislature,” Tauchen said. “That will be 16 years that I served the people of this district and I will be 69 at the time, so I think it is appropriate.”

Tauchen says he is making the announcement early on to give people time to consider running.

“I want to let people know that I won’t be here forever and they should consider the opportunity that this provides because it is hard to affect the game if you are not in it,” he said. “People have a couple of years to think about, but I hope they consider.”

In the last couple of elections, Tauchen has not faced much opposition on the Republican side but has faced opposition from Democrat candidates.

Representative Tauchen says the current state of Government may deter people from running, but says the Wisconsin Legislature and Senate are still good places to be involved.

“State government is not as disruptive as it is in the Federal government. I still enjoy it and the current political issues are not factors in my decision.”

Tauchen said he has no interest to run for a federal government seat and spent time as an Advisor in the Department of Agriculture under both President Bush and President Clinton between 1999-2003.

“To me, Washington DC is a great place to visit, but I really want to be in Wisconsin.”

Tauchen replaced John Ainsworth after he served for 16 years. Tauchen says between Ainsworth and himself, it would be 32 years in the position. He says an open seat provides more opportunities for candidates and says the odds of taking an incumbent out is 8 percent in the last 80 years.

“I think running against an incumbent, prevents people from running. If you don’t screw up, it is difficult to be unseated as an incumbent.”

He says this would be a good time to run if anyone is considering it and thinks it could be a pretty contested election.

“I am expecting people to run on both sides when the seat becomes open.”