(CNN) - Rep. Collin Peterson won't be joining the growing list of longtime House members who've announced in the past few months that they'll retire at the end of the year rather than bid for re-election.
The Democratic congressman from Minnesota said Monday that he's running in November for a 13th term in the House. Peterson, who represents Minnesota's 7th Congressional District, which runs along the state's western border with North and South Dakota, made the news on radio station KFGO in Fargo, before making a scheduled formal announcement at a campaign event.
[twitter-follow screen_name='politicalticker'][twitter-follow screen_name='psteinhausercnn']
Peterson served as chairman of the House Agriculture Committee and is currently the ranking Democrat on the panel.
While Peterson easily won re-election in 2012, GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney carried the district by 10 percentage points over President Barack Obama in the race for the White House. If Peterson had decided against running for re-election, some Democratic strategists quietly predicted the party would have had a hard time keeping the seat.
The National Republican Congressional Committee was quick to criticize Peterson.
"Over his 20 year political career in Washington, Collin Peterson has lost touch with the needs of Minnesota families. Minnesota wants a new voice that will put their interests ahead of Barack Obama's reckless agenda. Collin Peterson may not be retiring on his own terms, but we have every intention of forcing him into retirement in November," said NRCC spokesman Tyler Q. Houlton, in a statement.
Twenty-one House members (11 Republicans and 10 Democrats), many of them longtime members, are retiring from Congress rather than run for re-election this year. Another 18 members (11 Republicans and 7 Democrats) are running for the Senate or other offices rather than bid for re-election to the House.
CNN Senior Congressional Producer Deirdre Walsh contributed to this report.