(The Center Square) – Cue the Beatles.
Not only will more than half of North Carolina’s Council of State change in the 2024 election, five of 14 members in Congress are waving goodbye to Washington and saying hello back home.
Democratic U.S. Rep. Wiley Nickel is the latest, announcing Thursday that he will not seek reelection. He represents the 13th Congressional District. He joined fellow Democratic Reps. Kathy Manning from the 6th and Jeff Jackson from the 14th in declining to return to the Beltway.
Republican Reps. Dan Bishop of the 8th and Patrick McHenry from the 10th also will not seek reelection.
Reasons vary.
Bishop and Jackson are each seeking the state attorney general post; McHenry, 48, is retiring after serving since January 2005 in the House; and Nickel and Manning join Jackson in saying the redistricting process made the challenge to win too great.
Citing the redistricting maps in his Thursday afternoon press conference, Nickel said of Republicans, “They are going to get 71% to 79% of the seats in Congress, despite North Carolina being a purple state, a 50-50 state right down the middle.”
According to the Board of Elections website, the state’s more than 7.3 million voters are 36% unaffiliated, 32.7% Democrats and 30% Republicans.
Nickel has eyes on the 2026 election cycle and the seat occupied by U.S. Sen. Thom Tillis.
At time of publication, confirmed filing to run for reelection were Democratic Reps. Deborah Ross, Valerie Foushee and Alma Adams, and Republican Reps. Dr. Greg Murphy, Virginia Foxx, David Rouzer and Chuck Edwards.
Democrat Rep. Don Davis, yet to file at time of publication, has said he is running for reelection in the 1st Congressional District.
The Council of State includes the governor; lieutenant governor; attorney general; commissioners of agriculture and insurance; the secretaries of state and labor; auditor; treasurer; and superintendent of public instruction. In addition to the governor being term-limited, the lieutenant governor, attorney general, treasurer, and labor commissioner are either not running for reelection or are running for different offices.
Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson, Attorney General Josh Stein and Treasurer Dale Folwell have filed to run for governor. Labor Commissioner Josh Dobson decided not to seek reelection. Auditor Beth Wood’s last day is Friday, and her appointed replacement Jessica Holmes has filed to win election to the office.
