WATERLOO, Iowa --- U.S. Rep. Tom Latham announced today he will seek to retain a seat in Congress but move and run in Iowa's new Third Congressional District in soutwest Iowa to avoid a head-to-head contest with fellow Republican U.S. Rep. Steve King.

"I am writing to share with you my decision that I will be a candidate for Congress in Iowa's new Third Congressional District in 2012," Latham said in a statement e-mailed today.

He currently resides in Ames and would only have to only move two counties southwest, to Dallas County in the western Des Moines metro area to be in the new district.

That leaves much of Latham's old district, which takes in most of the northern quarter of the state and several Northeast Iowa counties, including Butler, Chickasaw and Grundy, to King, of Kiron.

Latham made his announcement a day after the Iowa Legislature approved a reapportionment plan in the wake of the 2010 U.S. Census, in which Iowa lost a congressional seat and districts were redrawn. Gov. Terry Branstad said Friday he'll sign the plan.

Earlier this week, sitting U.S. Rep. Dave Loebsack announced he would move from Linn to Johnson counties and run in an open southeast Iowa district to avoid a head-to-head contest with fellow Democrat Bruce Braley of Waterloo.

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