WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama's choice to be U.S. ambassador to Mexico has withdrawn from consideration.

The White House says Maria Echaveste cites a prolonged confirmation process as well as her family's best interests.

Obama nominated Echaveste last September. She had yet to receive a confirmation hearing in the Senate.

A graduate of Stanford University and Berkeley Law School, Echaveste was deputy chief of staff and a presidential assistant during the Clinton administration. When Hillary Rodham Clinton was secretary of state, she appointed Echaveste a special representative to Bolivia.

Echaveste is a partner in the consulting firm Nueva Vista Group in San Francisco. A native of Texas who grew up in California, Echaveste would have been the first American woman to be ambassador to Mexico.

Her withdrawal was first reported by Politico.