Nation's only two congressmen in a state level race contrast in visions

(The Center Square) – With less than a month before mail-in ballots start going out, Democrat Jeff Jackson and Republican Dan Bishop are gearing up for the final leg of the North Carolina attorney general race.

The only two U.S. House of Representatives members who are battling in a state level race remain hopeful in their chances of winning what will likely be the state's most expensive and competitive attorney general election in decades. Each is a former state senator, and neither has won a statewide election.

If Bishop wins, he would be the first Republican candidate to win the attorney general seat in North Carolina since Zeb V. Walser in 1896. The Center Square was unsuccessful getting answers to questions for this story from his campaign.

The Jackson campaign told The Center Square in a statement that this race is about different visions.

“Rep. Jackson is traveling across the state to deliver his vision for the office, including taking on the fentanyl epidemic, supporting higher wages for law enforcement, defending consumers from fraud and scammers, and standing up to political corruption,” the statement said.

Jackson was first elected to the U.S. House in 2022, winning District 14 by a little over 15% against his Republican opponent. Bishop won a special election in 2019 following the Bladen County-centered ballot harvesting saga, then twice won reelection.

Both candidates worked in the legal field. Bishop was a litigator specializing in commercial law, while Jackson served as the assistant district attorney in Gaston County.

Jackson’s campaign is greatly out-fundraising the Bishop campaign, with Jackson raising more than triple what Bishop raised in the second fundraising quarter of the year.

Jackson ended the period on June 30 with $5.7 million in the bank to Bishop's $2.7 million, according to campaign finance documents .

Both candidates have been quick to blast the other as unsuited for the position of attorney general.

“Jeff was an assistant district attorney for three years,” Bishop said in a statement on social media. “I practiced law for 29.”

Bishop says he leads Jackson 244-3 in “career appearances in state civil trial courts.” The Jackson campaign pushed back.

“He’s the only candidate in this race who has never prosecuted a case,” the campaign told The Center Square. “Dan Bishop has never prosecuted a single case – ever.”

Their campaign’s policy focuses are also strikingly different.

Jackson is running on “combating poverty” and “fixing our democracy,” while including “climate action,” “racial justice,” and “LGBTQ+ rights” as other important issues.

He has stood by President Joe Biden’s policies and has endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris, applauding her as “the former prosecutor we need to make the case to our country about the stark choice we face in this election.”

Bishop has stood by former President Donald Trump and has equated a vote for Democrats to a vote for “chaos and disorder.”

Bishop promises a return to “law and order” if he is elected. He also places his policies in contrast with the focuses of the past few Democratic attorney generals in North Carolina – nearly eight years of Josh Stein, and 16 of now-Gov. Roy Cooper.

“Dan believes Democrats like Roy Cooper and Josh Stein have abused the state’s top law enforcement office by turning it into a stepping stone for higher office and a platform to spread liberal propaganda,” said a statement on Bishop’s campaign website .

In 78 days, North Carolina voters will decide between these two visions, in a potentially historic way.