North Carolina Democrat Rep. Wiley Nickel announced Thursday that he won't seek reelection, joining a growing group of lawmakers to back out of their election plans.
Rep. Nickel blamed Republicans for the “rigged” congressional maps that threatened the Democrat's district before teasing a future Senate run.
“Republicans have rigged the system to favor themselves and I don't have a path to run for re-election in the 13th district,” Nickel said in a statement shared to X.
“But I'm not giving up and neither should you. Next year, I'm going to be working to elect North Carolina Democrats up and down the ballot in 2024. Then, in January I'm going to look to flip our US Senate seat blue.”
Nickel isn't the first Democrat lawmaker to refuse to seek reelection as the new changes are expected to shift the balance to favor Republicans in as many as 11 of the 14 districts, according to The Hill.
Last week, Rep. Kathy Manning (D-N.C.) announced that she won't seek reelection to her House seat in 2024 under the “egregiously gerrymandered” maps. However, she left the door open to running again if legal challenges against the redistricting prevail.
“I would love nothing more than to continue representing our community in Congress. Unfortunately, the egregiously gerrymandered maps do not make this race competitive, and I cannot in good conscience ask people to invest their time, resources and efforts in a campaign that is rigged against us,” Manning said in a statement.
If Nickel jumps into the Senate race, he'll likely face off against Republican incumbent Sen. Thom Tillis, who is up for reelection in 2026.
This is a breaking news story. Please check back for updates.
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