NEW YORK — Rep. Nydia Velazquez, D-New York, has announced she won’t seek reelection in 2026 to her deep-blue congressional seat, ending a more than three-decade career in Congress for the trailblazing progressive lawmaker who was the first Puerto Rican woman ever elected to Congress.

Velazquez, affectionately dubbed “La Luchadora,” or The Fighter, says she will step aside next year after 16 terms representing her predominantly Latino NY-07 district that encompasses parts of northern Brooklyn and western Queens.

“The time is right for me to move on and for a new generation of leaders to step forward,” Velazquez, 72, said in a statement posted on social media.

Potential candidates could include Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso and State Sen. Julia Salazar, although many other prominent Latino political leaders might be interested in running.

There is virtually no chance of a Republican winning the heavily Democratic district, meaning Velazquez’s successor will almost certainly be chosen by Democratic voters in a primary likely to be held in the spring.

Velazquez is the longest-serving Latina in Congress and is often cited as a powerful mentor by younger leaders including Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-New York, and Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani.

“From the bottom of my heart, thank you La Luchadora,” Mamdani tweeted.

The NY-07 district was drawn with the goal of giving Latino voters a chance to elect the candidate of their choice under both state and federal voting rights laws, meaning it would likely remain a strongly Latino district for the foreseeable future. That would give would-be candidates the hope that the winner could hold the seat for years or even decades, as Velazquez did.

Born and raised in a poor sugar cane-growing village on Puerto Rico’s southeast coast, Velazquez came to New York City as a graduate student and put down deep political roots in her adopted hometown.

At age 39, she won a crowded Democratic primary in 1992 to represent a version of her current district, which includes parts of Williamsburg, Bushwick and Long Island City, and never faced another serious political challenge.

“If you had told that little girl she would one day become the first Puerto Rican woman elected to Congress, she would never have believed it,” Velazquez said.

Velazquez played a key and sometimes controversial role in advocating for greater political power for Puerto Ricans both on the mainland and on the island.

She is a longtime critic of statehood for the island and has supported forms of enhanced self-government that could give Puerto Ricans more power over their affairs.

Velazquez has also said pushing for statehood is a waste of time because Republicans will never accept a Latino 51st state that could also boost Democrats in Congress and the electoral college.

©2025 New York Daily News. Visit at nydailynews.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.