Former Republican State Rep. John Blust has announced he’s coming out of political retirement and running for the open North Carolina House District 62 seat in 2024.

District 62 state Rep. John Faircloth has announced that he would not be running for reelection in 2024 after serving seven terms in the House.

Blust served in the state House from 2000 to 2018, when he declined to run for reelection. Prior to that he served one term in the state Senate.

In the press release, Blust states that two issues tipped the scales to convince him it was time to go back to Raleigh. One was the way the casino legislation was attempted to be added to the budget bill rather than coming up as a stand-alone bill, voted up or down on its own merits.  The casino legislation was in the end not included in the budget bill.

The other was the bill to “de-annex almost a thousand acres in the town of Summerfield that I used to represent.”

Blust said that he went to Raleigh to talk to legislators about the way these bills were being handled. He stated, “Almost all of the former colleagues I talked to privately agreed with me that putting these measures into conference reports and never allowing them voted on as stand-alone issues was the wrong way for the North Carolina legislature to conduct business. I was told by several former colleagues that I was needed back in the legislature because I am willing to stand up in the closed door party caucuses and advocate for conducting the people’s business in a forthright and honorable manner.”

Blust also said that he wanted to go back to Raleigh to continue his work to control spending, cut taxes, improve education and protect public safety.

Blust, who is 69, is an Army veteran and an attorney with over 30 years’ experience working in Greensboro.

Republican Michelle Bardsley earlier announced her intention to run for the open District 62 House seat.

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