U.S. Rep. Ralph Norman says he’ll likely join the expectedly crowded governor’s race, calling it his only opportunity to try for the state’s highest profile office.

With the office really up for grabs once every eight years, 2026 represents his lone opportunity to make that bid, the Fifth District congressman told the SC Daily Gazette on Tuesday.

“I can do this now,” said the 71-year-old, adding he has no desire to run in 2034 for a job that would continue well into his 80s.

Asked how seriously he was considering entering the race, Norman characterized it as a 65% likelihood.

Fox News and Punchbowl News, an online national politics publication, had previously reported the Rock Hill Republican’s interest in the office.

“When the opportunity is there, you have to look at it,” said Norman, who did not give a timeline on an official decision.

Norman could be part of a crowded field for the Republican nomination to succeed Gov. Henry McMaster, who is term-limited by law.

At 77, McMaster is South Carolina’s oldest governor ever. He’s also the state’s longest-serving elected governor, since he initially ascended to the job in 2017 after then-Gov. Nikki Haley joined the first Trump administration, giving him almost two years in the role before his first election to the office.

There is no one officially in the governor’s race yet.

But Norman’s potential opponents include a colleague in Congress, First District Rep. Nancy Mace. Others widely expected to run are Lt. Gov. Pam Evette and Attorney General Alan Wilson. State Sens. Josh Kimbrell and Sean Bennett have also said they’re considering a bid.

Norman said a competitive race is good for the state.

“It brings out the best in people,” he told the Gazette.

Filing for the election doesn’t start until March 2026, although campaigns will be announced well before then. By law, candidates have to file ethics disclosures once they start raising money. Norman said he’s had discussions with political consultants evaluating the race.

Norman, a Rock Hill developer, won his first elected office to the South Carolina House in 2004 and then launched a failed bid for Congress. He lost to longtime incumbent Rep. John Spratt in November 2006.

He re-gained his seat at the Statehouse in 2009 via a special election.

He won his congressional seat in a 2017 special election after then-Rep. Mick Mulvaney resigned to serve as President Donald Trump’s budget director. That race gave him experience in a crowded GOP primary, as he ultimately emerged the winner of a seven-way race.

He easily won a fourth full term in November in the ruby red Fifth District, which is anchored in his home county of York and stretches from Spartanburg County southeast to Sumter County. Still, he would need to work on his statewide recognition, according to results of a Winthrop Poll released earlier this month, which showed many self-identified Republicans were not familiar with him.

Before running for office, Norman grew his father’s construction business, the Warren Norman Company, into one of the state’s most successful commercial real estate firms. He is by far the wealthiest member of South Carolina’s delegation, according to annual disclosures.

He believes his blend of business and politics would be a bonus as the state’s CEO.

“You have to make sure every dollar is spent right,” he said.

In Congress, he sits on the House Budget, Rules and Financial Services Committees and is a key member of the chamber’s uber-conservative Freedom Caucus, which he helped launch in the South Carolina House.

Some of his votes that gained him national attention include in initially working to block Kevin McCarthy as speaker in 2023, before switching to support him, then in January opposing the re-election of Speaker Mike Johnson, before backing him.