Democrat Jeff Jackson defeats GOP’s Dan Bishop in NC attorney general’s race
Democratic U.S. Rep. Jeff Jackson has won North Carolina’s attorney general’s race.
The Associated Press called the race for Jackson at 11:32 p.m. on Tuesday, just over four hours after polls closed in the Tar Heel State.
Jackson’s GOP opponent, U.S. Rep. Dan Bishop, addressing supporters at an election night watch party in Monroe shortly after 11 p.m., thanked his campaign staff and conceded to the Democrat, who will ensure his party maintains control of the powerful attorney general’s office for another four years.
Republicans hoped Bishop, a prominent member of the House Freedom Caucus who was elected to Congress in 2019, could reverse a 128-year drought for the GOP in North Carolina attorney general races.
Even as the party took back control of the General Assembly in 2010 and won the 2012 governor’s race, it continued to struggle in contests for attorney general.
“It was close, but we won,” Jackson said late Tuesday night, at the N.C. Democratic Party’s election night party in downtown Raleigh.
Jackson thanked voters, his “small but mighty” campaign team, and his family, who joined him on stage.
The incoming attorney general thanked his Democratic predecessors Josh Stein and Roy Cooper, both of whom went on to win races for governor. In particular, he mentioned Stein’s work to hold opioid manufacturers accountable and Cooper’s leadership.
Speaking with reporters after his victory speech, Jackson said he planned to work with the General Assembly to “strengthen our defenses” against scammers who rely on artificial intelligence.
He also said there would be a transition period leading into his new role, and said he expects to meet with Stein, who just served two consecutive terms as attorney general.
”He’ll give me a sense of issues that are still ongoing, and we’ll have a number of candid conversations about that,” Jackson said.
Bishop concedes and addresses his political future
“Tonight, our run of success has reached its end,” Bishop told supporters who had gathered at the Hilltop Fish Fare & Steakhouse. “For the thousands of friends Jo and I have made across North Carolina and America, for our volunteers and donors and campaign team, and for the millions of North Carolinians who cast their vote for me: I’m disappointed to have fallen short.”
Bishop said he was eager to lead the restoration of law and order in North Carolina.
“To be a champion for the men and women of law enforcement, who richly deserve one,” he said. “And to reinvigorate the North Carolina Department of Justice to pursue the law and justice rather than ideology.”
Still, Bishop said, he was grateful to have been “in the arena not for ambition or pride but for the privilege of fighting on your behalf for the state and country that we love.”
Bishop went on to say “I want the last words I likely say on a public stage as a candidate for office to be this: I praise a mighty God whose plan is perfect.” He said he’s considering some work in the private sector after the election loss.
Most expensive attorney general race
The attorney general’s race was already expected to be one of the most competitive on the ballot this year, but it received even more attention after the governor’s race was upended by a scandal involving racist, sexually graphic, and antisemitic online comments allegedly made by GOP gubernatorial nominee Mark Robinson, who already trailed in the polls, and in fundraising.
As Democratic Attorney General Josh Stein cemented a substantial polling lead over Robinson for governor, additional resources poured into what both attorney general campaigns expected to be, by contrast, a much closer contest. At 11:26 p.m. and with 86% of the state’s precincts reported, Jackson held a 52%-48% lead.
Jackson, the first-term TikTok-savvy congressman, raised a total of $15.4 million as of mid-October, while Bishop, a prominent member of the House Freedom Caucus who has been in Congress since 2019, raised nearly $9 million. Spending by allied groups was expected to bring overall ad spending in the race closer to parity.
The two campaigns and the political action committees supporting them expected to spend at least $31 million on both TV and online ads through Election Day, the Associated Press reported last week, citing data from the firm AdImpact, which tracks political ad spending.
That sum is believed to make this year’s attorney general race the most expensive in U.S. history, according to both campaigns. The 2020 race, by comparison, saw Democrats vastly outspending Republicans, roughly $12 million to $2 million, according to AdImpact.
Jackson and Bishop’s election night watch parties
Early in the evening, Bishop told the Charlotte Observer that he was encouraged by Republican turnout during early voting.
Bishop said he didn’t know if the CNN report about Robinson or other attack ads trying to tie the Republican, who lost Tuesday night, to other down-ballot GOP candidates, affected his race.
“I don’t know. I think there’s a good prospect that it has. We’ll just have to see what people do. I give people in North Carolina more credit than that,” Bishop said. “Whatever its veracity, those attacks on him have nothing to do with me.”
Bishop’s supporters started gathering at his watch party around 7 p.m.
Charlie Brown, a near 40-year resident of Charlotte, said he met Bishop when the congressman ran for that office and knocked on his door. The two got into a long conversation and lined up ideologically.
“The whole ‘woke agenda’ is something I’m very much against,” he said.
He noted that the state’s last Republican attorney general, Zeb V. Walser, was elected in the 1896. But now is the perfect time for a conservative in the office, he said.
Jackson, meanwhile, spent election night with other Democratic candidates at the N.C. Democratic Party’s party at the Marriott City Center in downtown Raleigh.
GOP hasn’t won an AG race in NC in more than a century
The GOP hasn’t won an attorney general race in North Carolina in 128 years, but managed to come close in other recent contests, which were decided by razor-thin margins.
Stein defeated Republican Buck Newton to win his first term in office in 2016 by 24,613 votes, or 0.54%. In 2020, Stein won reelection while running against Republican Jim O’Neill by an even closer margin of just 13,622 votes, or 0.26%.
As the state’s top law enforcement official, the attorney general leads the N.C. Department of Justice and represents the state in all legal matters.
The attorney general can also intervene in court proceedings at both the state and federal level, and handles criminal appeals from state trial courts.
Jackson has identified combating the fentanyl crisis as his top priority if elected, while Bishop has said he will prioritize helping law enforcement across the state “restore law and order.”
This story was originally published November 5, 2024 at 8:20 PM.
