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(CNN) -

Amy Kremer, the Tea Party Express chairman who's played a major role in elections for the past five years, is resigning.

"This has been a really difficult decision for me, but the time has come for me to leave Tea Party Express," Kremer said Friday.

The group is one of the largest and most politically active national tea party organizations. It got its start in 2009 as a bus tour that crisscrossed the country multiple times as it held rallies and supported conservative candidates.

In the 2012 election cycle, the group partnered with CNN to host the first tea party Republican presidential debate.

The timing of her departure comes as the Tea Party Express plans to spend four days in Florida's 19th Congressional District to support conservative Curt Clawson in a special election.

But Kremer says she doesn't want to dedicate her time to a district that already leans Republican and on a race that will have to take place again in November.

Instead, Kremer will be doing consulting for businessman Matt Bevin, who's challenging Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell in Kentucky's GOP primary on May 20.

"This should be ground zero for the movement," Kremer told CNN. "A U.S. senator definitely has more of an impact on our debt than a congressman that potentially will spend eight months in Washington, and my heart tells me that I should be on the ground focused on competitive Senate races."

Still, Kremer described her split with Tea Party Express as amicable.

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Amy Kremer to resign from Tea Party Express