NC House Speaker Tim Moore won't seek reelection to his House seat in 2024
State Rep. Tim Moore, North Carolina's longest-serving speaker of the House, confirmed Thursday he won’t seek reelection to the state House in 2024.
Moore, who is widely considered a possible congressional candidate in 2024, announced months ago that he would not seek another term as House speaker. But at the time, he did not rule out a return to the House as a rank-and-file member. Such a move would be unusual.
“I don’t plan to seek reelection to the state House,” he told reporters Thursday.
Moore, R-Cleveland, has served in the state legislature since 2002, making him one of the long-serving members of the body. His ten-year tenure as House Speaker is the longest in modern memory.
Moore declined Thursday, as he has for months, to say whether he’ll seek higher office. He said he still hadn’t decided what’s next.
He was a central player in legislative negotiations over the state budget.
“I’m very proud of the money that's being put in areas all across the state from one end to the other, from the urban areas [to] the rural areas, you name it,” he said earlier this week. “And I want to see us continue to build on that.”
In October, the legislature will meet to redraw state legislative and congressional districts. That process could produce a congressional district that Moore would stand a good chance of winning. Moore will likely have significant influence over how those lines are drawn..
In 2021, Republican state lawmakers constructed a map that included a safe Republican district for Moore to run for Congress, and he was widely expected to take that opportunity. But then-incumbent Republican U.S. Rep. Madison Cawthorn announced he would run in that district, rather than in his redrawn western North Carolina district. After that, Moore announced he would stay in the state House.
The map was subsequently replaced by a court-ordered map that was used for the 2022 election. Under state law, the court-drawn map must be redrawn for the 2024 elections.
Moore helmed the House for much of the Republican majority's unprecedented run of success the past 13 years. The party holds a supermajority now in both chambers, allowing Republicans to overturn Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper's vetoes without help from Democratic members.
Moore has been the center of controversy, too. Earlier this year his relationship with a married state employee became public knowledge when her husband sued the speaker. In the lawsuit, he was alleged to have traded sex for political favors, a claim Moore has denied. The matter was resolved out of court. Republican House members said while the suit was active that they considered it a personal matter and supported Moore continuing as speaker this session.
Any member of the chamber can run to replace Moore as speaker. But the position usually goes to an existing member of the party’s leadership in the chamber.
House Majority Leader John Bell, R-Wayne, previously told WRAL News that he's interested in running for the speaker position next term. Other top members of leadership who could seek to succeed Moore include Speaker Pro Tempore Sarah Stevens, R-Surry; Rules chairman Destin Hall, R-Caldwell; Appropriations chairmen Dean Arp, R-Union, and Donnie Lambeth, R-Forsyth; Education chairman John Torbett, R-Gaston; and Rep. Jason Saine, a House budget writer and one of Moore's top lieutenants.
The Associated Press contributed to this article.
