NORTH CAROLINA, USA — The Associated Press contributed to this story.
Democratic Congressman Jeff Jackson is expected to become the state's next Attorney General, AP reports.
The Republican Candidate, fellow Congressman Dan Bishop, conceded the race to Jackson the night of the election.
Jackson is set to succeed Democratic North Carolina Attorney General Josh Stein, who defeated Republican Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson in the North Carolina gubernatorial race. Democrats continue to dominate 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 2016 and 2020, Stein won by less than 25,000 votes over his GOP opponent.
Both Jackson and Bishop are lawyers who have represented the Charlotte area on Capitol Hill as well as previously held office in the state legislature, but that’s where the similarities largely end. Each has accused the other of being too radical in their political stances.
Jackson, an Afghan war veteran and National Guard attorney began his tenure as representative for North Carolina’s 14th District in Congress in 2022. However, redistricting made it all but impossible for his reelection due to the increase in GOP voters within the new lines that expanded west of Mecklenburg County.
He’s acquired a vast following on social media, particularly on TikTok with over 2.2 million followers and 38.4 million likes. The Democratic nominee cited his time as a prosecutor and his dedication to performing his duties in a nonpartisan matter as the reasons that 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 with the Associated Press. “I’ve spent my entire career doing that as a soldier, as a prosecutor. That’s why I want to be attorney general.”
Bishop is a longtime commercial litigation attorney who joined Congress in 2019. He represents the 8th congressional district, which includes Cabarrus, Montgomery, Hoke, Stanly, as well as a portion of Cumberland and Rowan counties. He also served as a member of the Mecklenburg County Commission (2004-2008) before spending two separate terms in the N.C. House of Representatives (2015-2017) and the N.C. Senate (2017-2019).
The Republican nominee highlighted what he calculated as his 400-plus appearances in state and federal courts, while downplaying his rival’s legal history as an assistant district attorney in Gaston County.
“What I have had is extensive and complex experience with the judicial system in North Carolina,” Bishop said in an interview with the Associated Press. “He has not had anything like that career.”
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. They also make legislative recommendations to the General Assembly, and have sued specific industries in the past for damages, including tobacco, drug and social media companies.
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