U.S. Rep. Barbara Cubin announced Saturday she won't run next year for an eighth term in office, telling supporters she "cannot wait to come home and be with you for good."

"In contemplating 2008, my overwhelming consideration has been the need of my family for me to come home," she said.

First elected in 1994, Cubin has represented Wyoming in the House for seven terms -- the second-longest tenure in the state's history. She made the announcement during a 17-minute speech at a Wyoming Republican Central Committee meeting in Casper.

"I look forward to coming home to be a friend, a wife, a mother and especially a grandmother," she said.

Cubin has missed half of the votes during the current session of Congress, according to a Washington Post database. She's missed many of the votes in Congress due to personal reasons. In February, her brother died, and in September she broke three bones in her left foot. Cubin has also been tending to her husband, Dr. Frederick "Fritz" Cubin, who suffers from an immune disorder and has been hospitalized several times this year.

Cubin's husband was not at Saturday's announcement and she said he was in the hospital again.

"None of us know how much time we have left," she said after her speech. "What I do know is the time he has left, I want to be with him."

Cubin, who served in the state legislature before being elected to Congress, said criticism over her missed votes did not factor into her decision.

Asked how much time she would spend in Washington until her term ends, Cubin pointed out that lawmakers will be on break for much of the remainder of this year.

"I'm hoping Fritz will be better by the time we go back in session and I'll re-evaluate then," said the congresswoman, who's still on crutches for her injured leg.

Following the announcement, Wyoming GOP Chairman Fred Parady said Cubin's legacy will be her unquenchable spirit and her penchant for being feisty in representing the state's interests.

"Barbara Cubin has always spoke her mind, she always struck a resonant chord with Wyoming's voters, he said. "And even with some of the issues in the last few years, at the end of the day, she's the only person ever to win seven straight elections other than Frank Mondell."

Mondell represented the Cowboy State in the U.S. House for 13 terms, beginning in 1895 and ending in 1923.

Cubin said she'd been contemplating her decision to leave Congress for months.

"There was never a doubt about where my priorities would be," she said. "But what I didn't know was if (Fritz) was going to get better soon."

When Cubin ran in 2006, her husband told her he couldn't bear the thought she would end her career because of him, she said.

In that election, Cubin defeated Democratic challenger Gary Trauner by 1,012 votes -- a surprisingly thin margin. Trauner, a businessman from Wilson, has declared his intention to seek Wyoming's House seat in 2008.

Cubin said she believed she could have won re-election next year and, during her speech, predicted Republicans would defeat Trauner in a "landslide." She also criticized Trauner for his position on the war in Iraq.

"We cannot let Trauner win," she said. "He is wrong for Wyoming, he is wrong for America, and I know working together he will never succeed."

Reached later by phone for comment, Trauner said he was "disappointed she chose to personally attack me at her retirement announcement.

"I appreciate her years of service to Wyoming on the federal and state level, but I'm going to run a positive-issue based campaign as I did last time, no matter who my opponent is," he said.

In addition to her criticisms of Trauner, Cubin slammed congressional Democrats on the issues of taxes and terrorism during her speech at the Best Western Ramkota Inn.

"They spend so much time voting to surrender to al-Qaeda and investigating the president and the vice president, they have no time for America," she said during her speech.

U.S. senators John Barrasso and Mike Enzi attended Cubin's speech. Barrasso said Cubin would be remembered for the money she secured for Wyoming under the Abandoned Mine Land program. Under the program, Wyoming is scheduled to receive hundreds of millions of dollars under the program, beginning next year.

"People are going to say this didn't come without a fight," he said.

Vice President Dick Cheney, who has represented Wyoming in the U.S. House, called Cubin a principled public servant.

"She has stood firm for low taxes, limited government, individual rights and a strong national defense -- and Wyoming and the nation have benefited greatly from her service," Cheney said in a written statement.

As for her future, Cubin said she would always be involved in politics, though not necessarily as an elected official. She said she looked forward to watching a new generation of Republican leaders in Wyoming and relished the idea of not seeing nasty headlines written about her.

"I don't really know what I'm going to do," she said. "I'm going to see what opportunities arise."

Reach Joshua Wolfson at (307) 266-0582 or at josh.wolfson@trib.com