PASCAGOULA, Miss. — Ending months of speculation, Sen. Trent Lott announced Tuesday that he will run for a fourth term this year, saying Mississippi "is hurting and needs help."

The 64-year-old Republican told a hometown crowd he wants to continue working on federal issues related to the state's recovery from Hurricane Katrina, saying now is not the time to consider leaving the Senate.

"I want you to know that as long as Mississippi is hurting and needs help, I'll be there for this state if the people will allow me to," said Lott, whose beachside house was destroyed by Katrina on Aug. 29.

The former Senate majority leader lost his position in December 2002 after saying at Sen. Strom Thurmond's 100th birthday party that the country "wouldn't have had all these problems over the years" if it had elected Thurmond president in 1948. Thurmond was a strong segregationist at the time.

Lott has hinted that he might seek another leadership position. In an interview Tuesday on MSNBC's "Hardball with Chris Matthews," Lott didn't rule out challenging Majority Whip Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., for the GOP leader's post in the Senate when Sen. Bill Frist, R-Tenn., steps down next January.

Mississippi Democratic Party chairman Wayne Dowdy, a former congressman who opposed Lott in the 1988 Senate election, said Lott's decision to seek re-election will not dissuade Democrats from running.

State Rep. Erik Fleming has already announced his intention to seek the Democratic nomination for the U.S. Senate.