Minneapolis City Council Member Sandy Colvin Roy, who cast a crucial swing vote that secured the Vikings stadium deal on the council, is withdrawing her bid for re-election.

Roy's announcement, which appeared on her Facebook page Monday evening, comes on the heels of the spring Ward 12 DFL convention that ended with no endorsement. Two other wards also didn't endorse a candidate and three others endorsed challengers over the incumbents, opening the possibility for a major political shake-up in City Hall.

"After much thought, consideration and discussion with my family, I have decided that the best thing for me, for them and for the Ward is to step down," Roy said in her posted statement.

Roy was one of the final council members to support a new Vikings stadium downtown, which passed 7-6. She will leave the council after 16 years, but said she believes that she still has "unfinished work" to do there and had the support of many convention delegates. But she said others "felt it was time for a change."

Andrew Johnson, president of the Longfellow Community Council, was ahead of Roy on every ballot until the convention decided not to endorse.

Roy, 63, has faced four "hotly contested" elections. She said she believes that she could run and win yet another one in the southeast ward.

But the City Council job "is a hard job and takes a tremendous toll on daily life," she said in her post. "I look forward to gardening again; to being home for dinner at a regular time; to walking into the grocery store or a restaurant without being stopped about an issue. Not that I minded any discussion with a resident, but it does take its toll. Most of all, I look forward to not having my motives and intent attacked whenever I make a decision."

Roy couldn't be reached for comment.

Mary Lynn Smith