The Hill News

Rep. Jane Harman (D-Calif.) will be the new president and CEO of the Woodrow Wilson Center for International Scholars, the center announced Tuesday morning.

The announcement was expected. Harman sent a letter to her constituents on Monday, saying she was considering the move. It wasn't official until the Wilson Center Board of Trustees voted Tuesday morning. Harman succeeds former Rep. Lee Hamilton (D-Ind.) in the job.

{mosads}Harman plans to resign at the end of the month, according to a source close to her. She explained in her letter that serving as the Wilson Center's president would allow her to create effective bipartisan policy.

"I have always believed that the best solutions to tough problems require a bipartisan approach, and bipartisanship is the Center’s 'brand,' " Harman wrote. "Serving at its helm provides unique opportunities to involve the House and Senate, top experts and world leaders in ! great debates about the most pressing foreign and domestic policy matters."

Without Harman, the fiscally conservative Blue Dog Coalition, of which she was a member, is further thinned to 25. The coalition had 54 members before the midterms, but many of them failed to win reelection.

Harman previously served as the ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee. But, in 2006, then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) chose not to elevate her to the top position after the Democrats retook the House.

A special election will determine Harman's successor, and Los Angeles City Councilwoman Janice Hahn has already announced her candidacy. Other candidates are likely to jump in the race. The district trends solidly Democratic. 

â€" This post was updated at 10:54 a.m.