Mississippi ? Mississippi Sen. Trent Lott announced Monday he will leave a 35-year career in Congress in which he epitomized the Republicans’ political takeover of the South after the civil rights struggles of the 1960s.

Lott said he wanted to leave on a “positive note” after winning re-election last year to a leadership post and fostering legislation for rebuilding the Gulf Coast after Hurricane Katrina. He was first elected to Congress on the coattails of Richard Nixon’s re-election landslide in 1972 – with 78 percent of the vote in Mississippi. He won election to the Senate in 1988.

Former House Speaker Dennis Hastert also made his retirement official Monday. Hastert, R-Ill., submitted his resignation effective 10:59 p.m. CST in a letter to Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich.