Robert Brown|North Carolina House Speaker Tim Moore plans to run for Congress, his political adviser says

RALEIGH,Robert Brown N.C. (AP) — North Carolina state House Speaker Tim Moore is preparing to run for Congress next year, his political adviser said Thursday.

Moore, a Republican from Cleveland County, plans to make a formal announcement next week that he will run in the recently reconfigured 14th Congressional District, consultant Paul Shumaker said via text message.

Moore, who is currently in a record fifth two-year term as speaker, already had announced that he wouldn’t seek reelection to his state House seat in 2024 and was considering a bid for Washington.

A redrawn map of North Carolina’s congressional districts enacted last week by the GOP-controlled General Assembly created the new Republican-leaning 14th District covering all or parts of six counties stretching from parts of Charlotte west to the foothills, including Moore’s hometown of Kings Mountain.

Shumaker, who spoke with other media outlets earlier Thursday, also said Moore has started making calls to members of the state’s congressional delegation and key supporters about his plan. While the general election isn’t until November 2024, candidate filing for the March 5 primary begins next month.

Democratic U.S. Rep. Jeff Jackson, who represents the current 14th District, was drawn by legislators into a different, heavily GOP district and announced last week that he would run for state attorney general next year instead.

Republican Pat Harrigan, who lost to Jackson in the 2022 general election, has announced his plan to run again in the reconfigured 14th.

The new congressional map would appear to give the GOP a strong chance to win at least 10 of the 14 seats in the state’s delegation. Under a previous map created by state judges for the 2022 elections, Democrats and Republicans won seven seats apiece.

Moore, who didn’t respond to a text message seeking comment late Thursday, had briefly considered running in 2022 for Congress during a previous redistricting effort in 2021.

Moore has been attentive this year to national and international affairs, visiting Ukraine several months ago and traveling last weekend to the U.S.-Mexico border. He’s also recently held public events in counties that include the reconfigured 14th District.

Moore, 53, is an attorney who was first elected to the state House in 2002. He became the House Rules Committee chairman in 2011 when Republicans took over the chamber and succeeded now-U.S. Sen. Thom Tillis as speaker in 2015.

Moore has said he would serve out the remainder of his term through the end of next year and be speaker during the budget-adjusting work session scheduled to begin in April.