A 24-year-old Bismarck man is the first to officially announce he wants the backing of the Republican Party to run against Rep. Earl Pomeroy. D-N.D., for a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Ian Karvo, a counselor for Pride Inc. in Bismarck and substitute teacher, sees his age as something that would help him in Congress.

"Ithink the opportunity to have someone my age run is valuable because we just haven't seen it before,"Karvo said.

The U.S. Constitution says that, by the time someone is elected to a seat in the House, that person must be at least 25 years old when elected. Karvo said he turns 25 on June 6, which is exactly one week before the primary election and about five months before the general election in November.

Although he is not a member of the Republican Party and is unknown to Republican Party leaders, Karvo said he will go through the party's nomination process, but he hasn't ruled out petitioning to get on the ballot if he doesn't get the nomination.

Getting his name on the June primary without the nomination would require him to get 3 percent of the total votes cast for the party's previous candidate in general election, but not more than 300 signatures total.

Ken Karls, the Republican Party chairman, said he has never met Karvo but is looking forward to doing so.

Karls said he is glad that Karvo is going to go through the party's nomination process, which occurs during the Republican state convention March 31 to April 2 in Minot.

"He'll have to sell himself to the delegates, like they all have to do,"Karls said.

Karls said the age issue would probably be put on the "back burner,"as long as he meets the minimum requirements if he won the nomination.

So far, no Republicans have made a commitment to seek the endorsement.

Rep. Duane DeKrey, a legislator from Pettibone, said he will decide whether he will seek the endorsement by the middle of March.

Matthew Mechtel, of Page, also is considering a House race. Mechtel, 37, is a soybean and corn farmer and chairman of the Northern Crops Council, which oversees the operations of the Northern Crops Institute at North Dakota State University.

Karvo, a graduate of Dickinson State University, already has a campaign manager, a Web site and has submitted paperwork to form a campaign committee.

His campaign manager, Dustin Gawrylow, said in a news release that Karvo has an opportune time to run because there isn't a Republican candidate yet.

"This is the kind of campaign that political junkies dream about being involved,"Gawrylow wrote. "We intend to challenge conventional wisdom about Republicans and politics in North Dakota as a whole."

(Reach reporter Tom Rafferty at 223-8482 or tom.rafferty@;bismarcktribune.com.)