HARRISBURG — Pennsylvania’s state House majority leader, Mike Turzai, told top Republican Party officials this week he plans to run for a U.S. House seat in southwestern Pennsylvania, two party activists said Friday.

Turzai is informing key people of his decision before he makes a public announcement, according to the party activists. They spoke to The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity because they did not want to be named talking about the subject before Turzai announces his candidacy.

It’s not clear whether Turzai will resign his state House leadership post or seat to run for the U.S. House. It is legal for Turzai to run for both his state House seat at the same time he runs for U.S. House, but it is not legal to serve in both at the same time. Regardless, it appears likely that he will face a primary opponent who narrowly lost a 2010 run for Congress.

Asked about his candidacy by telephone Friday morning, Turzai said he was in a meeting and couldn’t talk. Turzai, of Allegheny County, would run for the 12th District seat whose boundaries were dramatically redrawn in December in a once-a-decade process that was controlled this time by Turzai and other top Republicans.

Its new boundaries combine portions of districts currently represented by two Democratic incumbents, Mark Critz and Jason Altmire. It includes all or portions of six counties, stretching from the Ohio border through Pittsburgh’s northern suburbs where Turzai lives and east to Johnstown and its surroundings.