Rep. Bishop to give up congressional seat to run for N.C. attorney general

Republican Rep. Dan Bishop announced that he is running for North Carolina attorney general next year, abandoning his congressional district to seek statewide office in the Tarheel State.

The decision sets off an incredibly competitive race for a role historically dominated by Democrats. Bishop, a member of the Freedom Caucus, has the kind of national profile and history of challenging the establishment that could flood the race with attention — and cash.

Bishop told WBT, a Charlotte radio station, on Thursday that he would run for attorney general. He is set to make an official announcement on Friday. He has previously publicly acknowledged that he was likely going to run for the office.

“We’ve decided that this is the right thing for me to do, to come back to North Carolina,” he said. “It is a particular time to reinforce support for prosecutors and frontline law enforcement officers.”

The Freedom Caucus member first won narrowly in 2019 after a hotly contested special election for his red-leaning seat. Bishop won far more comfortably in 2020, and he easily carried his Piedmont-area seat last year.

The district Bishop is giving up may look slightly different next year, but is still expected to be heavily GOP-leaning. Republicans in the state are expected to redraw the congressional lines this year after a newly conservative state Supreme Court recently cleared the way for a partisan gerrymander that could ultimately net Republicans as many as four additional seats.

The attorney general race is expected to be an incredibly competitive contest for an open seat. Incumbent Attorney General Josh Stein, a Democrat, is running for the state’s open gubernatorial seat in 2024.

Democrats have historically dominated the AG office in North Carolina. No Republican has been elected to the position since the late 1800s — a fact Bishop referenced during his interview — and just one has served since World War II after being appointed to the role.

Former state lawmaker Tom Murry, a Republican, has already announced he's running for the seat, while others in the state are considering a run. Should Bishop win the Republican nod, the general election could also very well be a member-on-member fight.

First-term Democratic Rep. Jeff Jackson is considered a possible candidate for the Democratic nomination. His district is expected to be carved up by Republican mapmakers during the redistricting process this year, turning it from one that is reliably Democratic to one that would be Republican-leaning.