(CNN) — Rep. John Lewis, the civil rights movement veteran and Democratic congressional leader who endorsed Hillary Clinton’s presidential bid last year, is switching his superdelegate vote to Barack Obama, according to a report Friday’s New York Times.

“In recent days, there is a sense of movement and a sense of spirit,” he said in the story, published on the paper’s Web site Thursday night. “Something is happening in America, and people are prepared and ready to make that great leap.”

The Times reported that Lewis has not yet endorsed Obama, but would make a decision on that within just a few days.

The Georgia congressman also said that he and other elected representatives were planning to meet soon to come to a decision on what action they might take to help the Democratic nomination avoid a convention floor fight.

The statement announcing the switch came just hours after Lewis told the Associated Press he had been considering the move.

Lewis told the paper that he was switching his vote to Obama in the hope of preventing a potentially bloody battle over the nomination, and if the two sides were seeking “a mediator, a negotiator or a peacemaker, I’d be happy to step in…I don’t want to see Mrs. Clinton damaged or Mr. Obama damaged.”