* “I’m ready to move on to a new challenge,” Attorney General Lisa Madigan explained today after informing me 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.

“I love working, I love advocating for the people of Illinois. And I’m going to keep doing it through the end of my term,” Madigan said.

* Besides the governor and his running mate, the only other statewide Republican candidate currently backed by the party apparatus is Erika Harold, who is running for attorney general. The Republicans had planned to go after the Democratic incumbent hard by tying her as closely as they could to her wildly unpopular father.

So, was AG Madigan worried about not winning next year? “No, not at all,” she said. “People know my record. People know I work hard every single day for the people of the state… I’ve never lost a race and I’ll never lose a race.”

* You’ll recall that four years ago, AG Madigan ended years of speculation and announced she would not run for governor because of her father…

“I feel strongly that the state would not be well served by having a governor and speaker of the House from the same family and have never planned to run for governor if that would be the case,” Lisa Madigan said in a statement. “With Speaker Madigan planning to continue in office, I will not run for governor.”

AG Madigan said today that she doesn’t regret not having the opportunity to run for governor. “I ran for attorney general because I believed this office would be the greatest opportunity to help people,” she said. “I have no regrets. This job is incredibly fulfilling.”

Madigan pointedly refused to rule out a future bid for governor, however. 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.

But if a Democrat defeats Gov. Rauner next year, that’ll put Madigan out of the running for maybe eight more years. I can’t say I blame her for getting out now. She’s also been mentioned as a possible Chicago mayoral candidate, but I got an unequivocal no on that one.

* What’s her current relationship with her father? “It’s good,” she said. “Very good.”

She said she has told Speaker Madigan about her decision and “He is supportive.”

* Asked if she had a preference for who should take her spot, AG Madigan said there will quickly be an “outpouring of qualified Democratic candidates,” adding that she hasn’t given any potential candidate a heads up about her decision.

Her announcement press release is here.

*** UPDATE 1 *** Statement from Speaker Madigan…