Wiley Nickel

A former congressman will no longer seek an open U.S. Senate seat in North Carolina next year, now that fellow Democrat Roy Cooper is running for the post.

Democratic U.S. Rep. Wiley Nickel said Thursday he won't seek reelection to Congress next year, the result of congressional redistricting by Republican state legislators this fall that's likely to shift North Carolina's delegation to the right. And he said he'll consider a U.S. Senate bid for an election that would be nearly three years away.