N.C. Sen. President Pro Tempore Phil Berger, R-Rockingham, announced Monday that he would seek re-election and would not run to replace Sen. Kay Hagan, D-N.C., in the U.S. Senate.
This eliminates a would-be face-off between the two most powerful Republicans in the N.C. General Assembly: Berger and House Speaker Thom Tillis, R-Mecklenburg. Tillis announced in May that he would be contending for Hagan’s seat.
Berger said in a statement that he believed he would make more of a difference in his current position.
“I’m proud of what our Republican Senate majority has accomplished over the past three legislative sessions, and there is still much more for us to do in the North Carolina Senate,” he said.
If Berger had run, he would have a tough race ahead of him, said Mitch Kokai, a political analyst from the John Locke Foundation, a right-leaning think tank.
“He holds a very powerful post in North Carolina state government, and even if he were to win a very bruising primary battle and then go on to defeat Kay Hagan, he would go on to play a much smaller role in the U.S. Senate,” he said.
John Dinan, a Wake Forest University political science professor, said it’s possible that Berger will continue working on the tax reform plan as an N.C. senator.
“(The Senate) initially pushed for some more significant reductions,” he said. “It’s very possible that the tax return issue returns again.”
Kokai said current polling data might have contributed to Berger’s decision not to run for U.S. Senate.
