Council of State races: Democrat Jackson is running for AG
Republican Congressman Dan Bishop is already in
North Carolina is likely to be in the national political spotlight next year as a battleground state with a number of important races on the ballot. The Biden campaign has indicated it will try to flip the state that Trump won by only 1.4%. The top four Council of State seats will all be open. Governor Roy Cooper is term limited, leaving the battle for his successor the most competitive gubernatorial race in the country. With Lieutenant Governor Mark Robinson and Treasurer Dale Falwell seeking the GOP nomination for governor and Attorney General Josh Stein vying for the Democratic nomination, all of their seats will be open. With Republicans gerrymandering themselves safe majorities in the legislature, these offices would provide Democrats the only checks on GOP power in the state.
Yesterday, Congressman Jeff Jackson became the latest entry into the statewide races, when he announced that he’s running for attorney general. Rumors of Jackson’s decision have been floating round North Carolina for months. Most people believed that Republican redistricting would put him a district that he can’t win and that happened this week. He released a video yesterday announcing his candidacy and blasting Republicans for gerrymandering, calling it corruption and warning the GOP that he’ll hold them accountable.
Jackson may be the best political communicator in the country. He’s been effectively using social media and videos to reach audiences since he first got elected. As a freshman state senator, Jackson grabbed attention with a Facebook thread called #snowday. Jackson showed up at the legislature when it was closed due to snow and proceeded to “pass” a bunch of progressive legislation by himself. It was hilarious. He got national press and used it to build a formidable following across the country.
As a Member of Congress, he’s been filming short videos to explain what’s happening in Washington. They get tons of views because Jackson breaks down complex issues into easily digestible segments and he’s visible across multiple platforms. His reach has secured a low-dollar fundraising base that should provide plenty of money for his campaign. Jackson’s down-to-earth style is key to his success, but he may transform the way campaigns communicate with some voters, moving away from simple sound bites and embracing short explainers.
Jackson’s opponent will be another Member of Congress, Republican Dan Bishop. Both men are lawyers from Charlotte but they couldn’t be more different in style or substance. If there’s any similarity, both see themselves as reformers. But while Jackson has a cool, pragmatic demeanor, arguing for ending gerrymandering and rooting out corruption, Dan Bishop prides himself on being a bomb-thrower who wants to burn it all down.
Bishop burst on the scene as the state representative who introduced North Carolina’s notorious HB-2, known as the bathroom bill, which restricted transgender people from using the bathroom of their choice. The legislation cost the state billions of dollars and contributed to Republican Governor Pat McCrory’s defeat in 2016. While moderates soured on the measure, conservatives embraced it and Bishop used his notoriety to court right-wing activists. He supported the start up of Gab, the White supremacist-friendly alternative to Twitter. He’s been a stalwart defender and supporter of Donald Trump, voting overturn the election and consistently spreading the Big Lie that the election was stolen. He’s been an America First supporter, opposing aid to Ukraine and American troops in Syria, moves that strengthen Putin. He’s consistently aligned himself with the most extreme members of the House, like Matt Gaetz and Lauren Boebert, but usually backed down when the votes really got tough.
It’s hard to know where Bishop really stands. He began his career as a moderate Republican on the Mecklenburg County Board of Commissioners and the state house. His celebrity over HB-2 seemed to go to his head and he went full MAGA. However, in several instances, after making headlines for hard-right positions, he took more moderate votes, like voting to make McCarthy speaker and then voting against ousting him. He also may be backing away from his conservative record as he tries to reinvent himself as a more pragmatic candidate for attorney general. While his district may elect far right conservatives, the state as a whole doesn’t tend to vote that way.
The matchup between Jackson and Bishop could give the attorney general race a higher profile than normal. Jackson’s ability to communicate broadly might give him a bigger microphone than most candidates in a down-ballot race in a presidential year. Bishop’s extremist views might be fodder for Democrats trying to drive a wedge between North Carolina’s more moderate swing voters and a Republican ticket topped by bomb-throwers Trump and Robinson.
Over the next few weeks, I’ll give a rundown of the other Council of State seats. Right now, Republicans have a raft of new safe Congressional districts and they’re still figuring out who runs for what. GOP primaries should be plentiful and North Carolina will get plenty of attention over the next year.