North State Journal: “First-term U.S. Rep. Madison Cawthorn upended an expected campaign by N.C. House Speaker Tim Moore (R-Kings Mountain) for Congress with his announcement he would run in the new 13th District in the 2022 election.
In a video announcement on Thursday night, Cawthorn said that his district was split and he faced a decision about where he felt he could best serve.
The decision, he said, was a “move to take more ground for constitutional conservatism” and to stop what he said was the political reality an “establishment, go along to get along Republican” would win if he did not run.
That appears to be a shot from Cawthorn at Moore, the longtime Cleveland County state Rep. who has served in the General Assembly for 10 terms including as speaker since 2015.
Moore had long planned to run for Congress.
As budget negotiations and redistricting stretched from summer to fall, speculation increased that Moore was building his profile to make a run for Congress. He became more active on social media and made frequent appearances on The Pete Kaliner Show on WBT Radio, the Charlotte-area station that broadcasts widely in the greater Charlotte area – including most of the new 13th District.
Yet by Thursday night, Moore had told colleagues he was running for re-election in his state house seat and for his speaker position.”