Source: The News & Observer
Tim Moore’s reign as leader of the North Carolina House of Representatives will be coming to an end in less than two years after he announced he wouldn’t be running for the leadership position for the 2025 and 2026 legislative sessions.
The announcement, which was made privately to the House Republican caucus, was confirmed to The News & Observer by Rep. Jason Saine.
Saine told the newspaper about Moore’s decision as part of an interview about a lawsuit that was filed against Moore accusing him of breaking up the marriage of an Apex elected official and his wife after having a multi-year affair with her and trading sex for political gain.
The lawsuit has since been “resolved” but it’s not known what the resolution was.
Saine said the caucus already knew Moore wouldn’t run for speaker again and that they were never concerned about the lawsuit and allegations against him.
Saine also said that Republicans had barely even discussed the lawsuit at all.
“You know, the speaker has announced this is his last time seeking to run for speaker,” Saine said, “so I don’t think anybody’s sitting here going, ‘Well, you know, keeping him around is going to be all that problematic,’ because we know he’s leaving.”
Moore is stepping aside from his leadership role at the end of his record fifth term as speaker.
For those wondering why he would give up so much power, there have been rumors for years that Moore has his eyes on running for U.S. Congress. Moore had his eyes on Congress so much that in 2021 he called for a national constitutional convention to pass an amendment setting term limits for members of U.S. Congress. The irony, of course, is that Moore is now in his 11th term in the North Carolina Legislature and fifth term as speaker. Keep in mind that states don’t even have the power to mandate term limits for members of Congress.
According to The News & Observer, many had thought that Moore would run for Congress last year during the midterms, but now-former Rep. Madison Cawthorn said he would run in the district instead. Moore immediately announced he wouldn’t run for Congress after Cawthorn’s announcement. The map ended up being changed later and Cawthorn ran in a different district and lost the primary.
Not coincidentally, Moore’s call for congressional term limits came ahead of those midterm elections, which was the same election for which he considered running in the primary against Republican U.S. Rep. Patrick McHenry, who was running for – and won – his 10th term in Congress.
State legislators will redraw (gerrymander) congressional districts this fall and Moore, who currently represents Kings Mountain just west of Charlotte, could target U.S. Rep. Jeff Jackson’s favorable Charlotte district for redrawing.
While Moore has been toying with the idea of trying to get a job in Congress in Washington, talk about a potential run has died down following the lawsuit filed against him, The News & Observer reported.
