North Carolina's next attorney general will be one of two outgoing members of Congress who have represented the Charlotte area on Capitol Hill and previously at the state legislature.
Both Democratic U.S. Rep. Jeff Jackson and Republican U.S. Rep. Dan Bishop are lawyers and prolific fundraisers. Each has argued that his rival is too radical to become the state's top law enforcement official on Nov. 5.
The winner succeeds two-term Attorney General Josh Stein, the Democratic nominee for governor. Democrats have dominated the position - a Republican hasn't been elected as attorney general since 1896 - even as the GOP has performed well for decades in other statewide races. In both 2016 and 2020, Stein won by fewer than 25,000 votes over his Republican opponent.
This fall's campaign has focused largely on who is best able to represent the nation's ninth-largest state in court and keep its communities safe. While State Bureau of Investigation figures show the North Carolina violent crime rate was higher in 2023 compared to a decade ago, it was essentially flat compared to 2022.
The two candidates and their allied PACs were on track to spend at least $31 million combined on television and online advertising during the general election campaign, according to data from AdImpact, which monitors campaign spending. The North Carolina race is among the most closely watched of the 10 attorney general elections taking place across the U.S. next month.
The attorney general is charged with representing the state in court and defending the work of locally elected district attorneys in appeals of criminal cases. AGs also make legislative recommendations to the General Assembly, and in the past have sued specific industries for damages, including tobacco, drug and social media companies.
That two members of the U.S. Congress are seeking a state government post reflects the position's growing influence and the increasingly partisan role state attorneys general are playing when it comes to going to court to support or oppose federal government policies.
Jackson is an Afghan war veteran and National Guard attorney who has gained a large following on social media and was elected to Congress in 2022. He has said his experience as a prosecutor - he worked as an assistant district attorney in Gaston County handling different types of cases - and his commitment to performing his duties in a nonpartisan matter make him the most qualified candidate.
"The job is fundamentally about being a shield for people against those who mean them harm," Jackson said in a recent interview. "I've spent my entire career doing that as a soldier, as a prosecutor. That's why I want to be attorney general."
Bishop, a longtime commercial litigation attorney, former Mecklenburg County commissioner and state legislator, joined Congress in 2019 and is a strong supporter of Republican presidential nominee and former President Donald Trump.
Bishop downplayed Jackson's legal history as an assistant prosecutor and highlighted what he calculates as his own 400-plus appearances in state and federal courts.
"What I have had is extensive and complex experience with the judicial system in North Carolina," Bishop said in an interview. "He has not had anything like that career."
Jackson said that if he's elected, he will work to counter the fentanyl overdose epidemic and combat scammers now using artificial intelligence techniques to fool consumers.
Bishop accused Jackson of having an "extensive record of being soft on crime and antagonistic to police." He said what North Carolina needs is the "restoration of law and order," and that he would work to reel in what he considers liberal-leaning district attorneys who aren't doing so.
The position has been a stepping stone for gubernatorial bids - outgoing Gov. Roy Cooper was attorney general for 16 years. In recent years, Cooper and Stein stopped defending state laws pushed by Republicans that they have determined are unconstitutional.
Jackson said in a recent interview that Stein was right to decline to defend provisions of state laws restricting medication abortions and mandating what a physician must do before prescribing abortion pills.
But Bishop contends that Stein's motive for not defending state laws enacted by the GOP-controlled General Assembly is to advance his political career - and he alleged that Jackson would do the same thing if he's elected.
Jackson and Bishop served together in the state legislature, where Bishop shepherded a 2016 law that banned cities from enacting new anti-discrimination ordinances and required transgender people to use public restrooms that correspond with the sex on their birth certificate.
Jackson didn't seek reelection to Congress this fall after the General Assembly redrew legislative maps and placed him in a heavily GOP district.
Jackson and his allies have also pointed out Bishop's endorsement of Republican Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson for governor, especially after a CNN report alleging that Robinson made explicit racial and sexual posts on a pornography website's message board. Robinson has denied the allegation.
Asked whether he remains comfortable endorsing Robinson, Bishop said he's focused on winning the attorney general's race and that "whatever issues involve the governor's race are between Mark and the voters." But Jackson said it's "absurd" that Bishop "can't bring himself to say a single critical word" about Robinson.
Earlier this month, Bishop filed a defamation lawsuit against Jackson's campaign and others, alleging that at least some of them are to blame for a political survey asking if a voter would be more or less likely to vote for Bishop if he "represented people who stole money from the elderly." Bishop says he has never represented such people. Jackson's campaign has suggested the lawsuit will be unsuccessful.
