The news came as a surprise Saturday night when Rep. Pete Lee told a gathering of Democrats at Colorado College he planned to run for Sen. Mike Merrifield’s District 11 seat.

Merrifield could run for another term, before term limits force him out in 2022. He beat Republican Bernie Herpin in 2014, after Herpin unseated then-Senate President John Morse in 2013 in a recall election over gun control laws the legislature passed that year.

The Democratic majority whip, Merrifield’s name was bandied about as a potential gubernatorial candidate this year, raising the stakes on his plans, if not a state Senate re-election race.

But that’s not the case, at least not now, he told Colorado Politics Tuesday.

Merrifield wants to retire, or at least try to. He’ll turn 71 as the next legislative session begins, which will be his last before next year’s election.

“I decided some time ago that I didn’t want to run again,” he said.””I really haven’t had any retirement at all. I would love to go skiing mid-week or go ride my mountain bike whenever I want to. I haven’t had a chance to do that as much as I’d like.”

Passionate in his beliefs, Merrifield concedes it will be difficult to avoid being directly engaged in public policy. He retired from teaching in 2002 to run for state House, where he served from from 2003 to 2011. Merrifield served on the Manitou Springs City Council from 1996 to 2000, while he was still teaching at Coronado High School.

If the right role on the right issues came around, Merrifield said he would reconsider his retirement plans, but he doesn’t yet know what those opportunities might be. Asked about running for governor, he laughed.

“I’m committed to retiring,” Merrifield said. “If I do something else, I’d like to do something significant.”

He said that next year, in his last session, he will again push to award accreditation points to K-12 schools with arts programs, as well as legislation around prison and juvenile justice reform. He said he might take on a difficult environmental issue, perhaps an anti-plastic bag bill.