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The race for the state senate seat representing Arizona’s Legislative District 6 appears as if it will be hotly contested in the 2020 election.

Senator Sylvia Allen told the Arizona Daily Sun she is not planning to run for reelection in 2020, leaving the seat open for the taking.

“The time is right for me to step down,” Allen said of her decision not to run. “It has really been such an honor to serve.”

Allen has represented LD6 in the state senate since 2015 and could run again, but she said she has decided against it in order to spend more time with her family, including her 19 grandchildren.

Allen said her work in the legislature -- often living in the capital for as many as four days a week and traveling back and forth from Phoenix to her home in Snowflake -- has prevented her from spending as much time with her family as she would like.

Allen added she is also tired of all the travel required of representing rural districts similar to LD6. LD6 encompasses the cities of Flagstaff, Holbrook, Sedona and Payson and crosses over Coconino, Navajo, Yavapai and Gila counties.