Wiley Nickel Becomes Third North Carolina Democrat Leaving U.S. House Over New Gerrymandered Maps
Nickel becomes the 34th House retirement of the 2024 election cycle.
Representative Wiley Nickel of North Carolina, a Democrat, has today announced that he will not seek a second term representing the state’s 13th Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives. He becomes the state’s third House Democrat to retire in 2024 after a brutal new congressional gerrymander passed the state legislature earlier this year.
Furthermore, Nickel shared that he is exploring a potential run for the U.S. Senate in 2026. That seat in the upper legislative chamber is currently held by Republican Thom Tillis, now serving in his second six-year term. That contest will likely be seen as one of the most competitive of the 2026 election cycle.
Nickel, 48, is the 34th retirement from the U.S. House of Representatives for the upcoming 2024 cycle - 22 Democrats and 12 Republicans. He joins fellow Democrats Jeff Jackson and Kathy Manning in being pushed out as a result of the new maps. North Carolina Republicans Dan Bishop and Patrick McHenry are also retiring this cycle.
Nickel has served in the U.S. House of Representatives since January 2023. North Carolina’s 13th Congressional District currently covers parts of the Raleigh area - taking in Johnston County and parts of Harnett, Wake and Wayne Counties.
However, the North Carolina state legislature was granted permission by the state Supreme Court to redraw its congressional map. That resulted in a partisan gerrymander that will ensure several Republican pickups in its House delegation. Nickel’s district was specifically targeted. It changed from a competitive seat to one that would vote Republican by double digits. The same happened to the seats currently held by Jackson and Manning.
From 2008 to 2012, Nickel was a member of the White House national advance staff. In 2011, he founded his law practice in Cary, North Carolina where he practiced as a criminal defense attorney. In 2018, he was elected to represented District 16 in the North Carolina State Senate. He was one of six Democratic pickups that year which resulted in breaking the Republican supermajority in the state’s General Assembly. Nickel was safely re-elected to the seat in 2020.
In 2022, Nickel ran for the state’s 13th Congressional District after court-mandated fair maps were drawn. He earned a majority in the Democratic primary for the new seat despite facing off against four opponents for the nomination. In the general election, he prevailed 51.06-48.04 against Republican Bo Hines. The new composition of the state Supreme Court though overruled its prior decision against partisan gerrymandering in the state. And so, Nickel will become a one-term Congressman.
For the 118th Congress, Nickel serves on the House Committee on Financial Services.
11 candidates have already launched campaigns for the Republican nomination to succeed Nickel in representing the 13th District. No Democrats have announced their campaigns for their party’s nomination. The state’s filing deadline to run for Congress is tomorrow.
Under the current lines, Joe Biden won North Carolina’s 13th Congressional District with a 50-48 finish over Donald Trump in the 2020 presidential contest. With the new gerrymander though, the 13th District instead would have been won by Trump in 2020 with a 58-41 margin.