NC GOP leader Tim Moore isn’t running for speaker again. Here’s what could come next.
After a record-breaking five terms, North Carolina Rep. Tim Moore will not be seeking another stint as speaker of the House in 2025. While he’s confirmed his decision to step back from House leadership, Moore has remained tight-lipped on what his next steps might be.
His departure leaves one of three of the state’s highest elected offices up for grabs. This, as well an open seat for governor, will change the current power dynamic.
Moore’s departure raises questions about what his next steps will be and what effect it will have on the state. What he chooses to do may shape North Carolina politics for years to come.
Here’s a look at possible routes Moore may take.
Running for Congress?
Moore has repeatedly dodged reporters’ questions about his political future. Often he responds with humor, asking if they are trying to get rid of him.
On Wednesday, Moore told The News & Observer that “while I will be looking at a number of options after my final term as Speaker, right now I am entirely focused on my job serving the people of North Carolina as Speaker of the House,” according to an email shared by Demi Dowdy, Moore’s spokesperson.
Paul Shumaker, a political adviser for Moore, said the longtime legislator “has multiple options on the table, all of which could have a lot of appeal.”
One of those options is a run for Congress, but that is not set in stone, Shumaker said.
“We don’t know what the maps are going to look like. We have all this speculation. It’s all being driven by folks outside of Tim Moore’s world, quite frankly driven more by the personal agenda that others may have politically,” he said.
Shumaker said he thinks maps will be drawn sometime in September, barring any timeline changes due to legislative and judicial review processes. The candidate filing period for the statewide 2024 primary elections begins in December.
Despite Moore’s influence, and the Republican-majority General Assembly’s power in redrawing the maps, “how our congressional maps end up looking right now is really a wild card,” Shumaker said.
“North Carolina continues to have more and more people move here,” he added. “And North Carolina is only going to become more competitive in that process.”
Lawmaker to lobbying pipeline
Apart from Congress, another potential scenario for Moore is lobbying, according to Western Carolina University professor and director of its Public Policy Institute, Chris Cooper.
Moore “has the ideal resume” to be a highly paid lobbyist, whether for various organizations or in-house, Cooper said.
He has “a toolkit, he’s got influence and he has knowledge about how the process works. So I doubt he will just go back to Cleveland County and hang up a shingle and run a law firm,” Cooper said.
It’s not uncommon for lawmakers to become lobbyists. One notable example is former two-term state House Speaker Harold Brubaker.
Shumaker, when asked if Moore is looking into lobbying, said the lawmaker has “got a successful legal practice, he can always go back to it and refocus on his legal practice and growing and expanding it.”
“He has a wealth of information and a wealth of knowledge that has a good value for it in the private sector,” Shumaker said. “How he chooses to leverage and market that is a decision he has to make for himself.”
An unlikely scenario is for Moore to stay in the legislature, Cooper said. The Republican party is faring well, having achieved a legislative supermajority this session, so Moore’s departure wouldn’t change Republicans’ hold on the legislative process. But it may play into internal debates.
“You’re still going to get conservative policies out of the General Assembly as you’d expect from a supermajority control of both chambers,” Cooper said. “But in some of the inter-branch differences that have become so important, like over the budget, I think the Senate will probably have a little bit more of an upper hand.”
The budget deal, which should’ve dropped in late June, has been hung up over the past several weeks.
Recent Controversies
Michael Bitzer, a Catawba College political scientist, said he’d be surprised if a congressional district wasn’t drawn for Moore, despite recent controversies.
In June, allegations surfaced in a lawsuit accusing Moore of alienation of affection for having a sexual relationship with a state employee who is married. It also included allegations of exchanging political favors for sex. The case has since been settled.
But these allegations might have little effect on Moore’s career, because “it’s just a new day in American politics,” Bitzer said.
“The fact that partisanship is such an intense loyalty and motivator, that the dynamics of what we used to think of as potentially career ending are no longer the case,” he said.
Shumaker said he “had seen nothing, read nothing, heard nothing that gives me any pause or concerns on what options Tim Moore chooses, he will be successful at.”
He also said the decision not to run again was due to “chatter in both chambers by Republicans that it’s time for other folks to be able to have an opportunity to get a swing at the ball or a handle on the gavel.
“There’s some younger members there who got a lot of ambition,” Shumaker said.
Cooper agreed the lawsuit is unlikely to affect any future plans “unless some bombshell drops that nobody sees coming.”
This story was originally published August 3, 2023 at 6:00 AM with the headline "NC GOP leader Tim Moore isn’t running for speaker again. Here’s what could come next.."
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