INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — The Republican leader of the Indiana Senate says he will be stepping down from the Legislature later this year.

Senate President Pro Tem David Long of Fort Wayne announced his decision Tuesday, saying that his resignation will take effect in November.

Long has been the Senate’s leader for the past 12 years and was first elected to the Senate in 2006. Republicans hold a commanding 41-9 majority in the Senate and those GOP members will pick a new leader next fall.

Long says it is time for him to step away from elected office. He won re-election in 2016 after defeating a Republican primary challenger who opposed Long’s unsuccessful attempt that year to extend state anti-discrimination protections to lesbian, gay and bisexual people.