Veteran journalist Andrea Mitchell will leave her MSNBC daytime program after the presidential inauguration in January, the network announced Tuesday.

Mitchell, who turns 78 this week, will remain at NBC News as chief Washington correspondent and chief foreign affairs correspondent, covering the division’s programming on the broadcast network, MSNBC and streaming channel NBC News Now. She told viewers at the end of her program “Andrea Mitchell Reports” that it was her choice to step away from daily anchoring.

“And after 16 years of sitting in the anchor chair every day, I want to have time to do more of what I love most,” Mitchell said at the end of her program. “More connecting, listening and reporting on the ground, especially as whoever is elected next week will take on the monumental task of addressing two foreign wars and political divisions here at home.

In a memo to staff, NBC News leadership said Mitchell’s “deep sourcing and ability to land the biggest newsmaking interviews are unparalleled.”

“Her contributions to NBC News over the past 46 years have been invaluable to the network, and we are so pleased that she will remain an essential part of the News Group for years to come,” the memo said.

“Andrea Mitchell Reports” launched in 2008 when NBC News added more of the network’s big names to the channel’s programming lineup.

Mitchell’s even-handed approach to Washington politics has fallen out of favor with some MSNBC viewers who have increasingly turned to the progressive-oriented network for critical coverage of former President Trump. Chuck Todd, whose show “Meet the Press Daily” was removed from MSNBC in 2022, also faced hostile reactions on social media.

Andrea Mitchell interviews Cuban President Fidel Castro in 2001.

(NBC News)

Mitchell joined NBC News in 1978 to cover energy at a time when the Iranian revolution was disrupting the world’s oil markets. She entered politics in 1980 and has covered every presidential election since. Her work as a foreign correspondent has taken her to North Korea, Cuba, Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, Israel, the West Bank, Ukraine, Bosnia, Kosovo, Pakistan, Haiti, Sudan and Japan.

Mitchell began her career in 1976 at a news radio station in Philadelphia. She was assigned a night shift to avoid disrupting a still all-male newsroom.

Mitchell soon joined the generation of female journalists who broke through as network news stars in the 1970s, including Lesley Stahl, Connie Chung, Judy Woodruff and Carole Simpson.