RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — The Rev. Mark Harris said Thursday he’ll run for the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate next year, adding a favorite of the party’s social conservatives to the list of potential challengers to Democratic incumbent Kay Hagan.

Harris, senior pastor of Charlotte’s First Baptist Church and outgoing president of the Baptist State Convention, told a couple hundred supporters gathered Thursday morning at a hotel outside Winston-Salem of his plans.