Cuban-American Congresswomen Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, of Florida, on Sunday announced that at the end of her present term, which concludes in 2018, she will retire from Congress and will not run for reelection.

After 38 years representing South Florida in Congress, where she was the first Cuban-American representative in the lower house, the Republican will withdraw from legislative life, she said in an interview with the daily Miami Herald.

It is "a personal decision based on personal considerations," said the congresswoman, who in the November election was easily reelected to Florida's 27th district, which covers the southeastern portion of populous - and heavily Hispanic - Miami-Dade County.

In the interview, Ros-Lehtinen emphasized that it had been a "great honor" to serve the public and said that there had been nothing concrete, or any specific moment, that had caused her to decide not to seek reelection.

"I will not allow my season in elected office be extended beyond my personal view of its season, simply because I have a continuing ability to win. ... Winning isn't everything. My seasons are defined, instead, by seeking out new challenges, being there as our grandchildren grow up, interacting with and influencing public issues in new and exciting ways," she said.

She also said that her decision had not been influenced by her differences with President Donald Trump or the leadership of the Republican Party in Congress.

The lawmaker, who after seven years in the Florida legislature was elected to the US Congress for the first time in 1989, had said in the past that she would not vote for Trump in the November election.

In addition, during the president's first 100 days in office, Ros-Lehtinen - who is seen as a moderate Republican - had expressed her disagreement with White House policies on deportations, budget cuts and curtailment of rights for transgender people, as well as the Republican plan to replace the signature healthcare reform of former President Barack Obama, known as Obamacare, and which has foundered - so far - due to insufficient congressional support.

She said she was not in agreement with many, if not most, of Trump's positions.

Ros-Lehtinen's announcement opens the door for the Democrats to potentially capture a House seat in the mid-term elections, especially given the 20 percent margin by which former Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, defeated Trump in the 64-year-old lawmaker's district.

Her husband and campaign chief, Dexter Lehtinen, who was US Attorney for South Florida, said that one of the main reasons his wife decided to end her congressional career was her desire to "spend more time with her family."

Ros-Lehtinen, the senior Florida congressperson, has been a defender of LGBT rights, as well as being an important voice in foreign affairs in Congress. She was the first woman to chair the House Foreign Affairs Committee and has always maintained a firm position against the Castro regime in her native Cuba.