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Broome County Legislator Daniel Schofield, a Republican with a maverick streak who could and did buck his own party at times, will not seek another two-year term as a county lawmaker.

“I’ve been carrying the torch for 26 years and I’m getting worn down,” the 54-year-old Endicott native said Friday.

Schofield has represented Broome’s 13th District, including Endicott and part of the Town of Union, on the county legislature since 1991. For 10 of those years, he served as chairman of the legislature — the longest-serving chairman in Broome history. Before winning election as a legislator in 1990, Schofield served eight years as a trustee on the Endicott village board.

Schofield, a third-generation IBM worker and currently a manager at the Endicott facility, said his family asked him to take a break from politics to spend more time with them.

Schofield and his wife, Mary Beth, have four children. Their youngest is a senior at Union-Endicott High School, Dan Schofield said. One of his children is getting married this year. And Schofield’s mother recently died. “I need a break,” the lawmaker said.

Schofield surprised some people a few weeks ago when he did not, as expected, challenge Broome County Executive Barbara J. Fiala, a Democrat, for her position this year. Instead, Town of Dickinson Supervisor Michael Marinaccio announced he would run against Fiala in November.

Schofield said he was proud of his accomplishments on the legislature. He listed defeating a measure in the 1990s to install a controversial regional trash incinerator in Broome as his proudest achievement.

For that, he was stripped from the legislature’s powerful finance committee by Republican leaders and put on the transportation committee, he said. While on that lower-profile committee, he worked successfully to finance updating and redesigning Bingham-ton Regional Airport, he said.

Schofield estimated the defeat of the trash incinerator saved Broome taxpayers $40 million in tipping fees over the years.

The self-described conservative Republican also cited as an accomplishment pushing for the development of the “Garden Plots,” formerly on Upper Front Street, which had sections set aside for residents to garden.

Schofield worked with two Democratic county executives and one Republican county executive during his years on the legislature.

He didn’t rule out returning to politics.

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