WEST POINT — Mayor Drew Ferguson will resign as West Point’s mayor after he qualifies to run for Congress, a spokesman for his congressional campaign said Sunday.

Ferguson will need to qualify to run as a Republican for Georgia’s 3rd Congressional District between March 7 and 11 in order to be on the primary ballot May 24.

The congressional seat is being vacated by Republican U.S. Rep. Lynn Westmoreland, 65, who said in January that he will retire at the end of the year after six terms as a congressman from Georgia’s 3rd District.

Ferguson, who has been mayor of West Point since 2008, will have to file with the state GOP and pay a fee of $5,220. He joins two other Republican candidates, State Sen. Mike Crane and businessman Richard Mix, both of Newnan, in bids to represent Georgia’s 3rd Congressional District.

The district is considered solidly Republican, and the winner of the primary election would likely win the general election on Nov. 8.

Ferguson, a native of West Point and a dentist by trade, announced his candidacy last month in a press release. He said he wants to go to Washington to fight for better economic opportunities for the region.

“Washington is broken, and as a small businessman I know that what our communities need from Congress is that they get out of the way and let us create jobs and economic opportunity for our citizens,” Ferguson said in a release. “We are a conservative place, and I want to put conservative principles to work for the whole district like we have in West Point, where we have cut taxes and utility rates while creating an economic development boom.”

He and his wife, Elizabeth, have four children: Drew, Lucy, Parks and Thad.