North Carolina’s next attorney general will be one of two incumbent members of Congress who represented the Charlotte region at the Capitol and previously in the state Legislature.

Democratic U.S. Rep. Jeff Jackson and Republican U.S. Rep. Dan Bishop are both prolific attorneys and fundraisers. Each has argued that their rival is too radical to become the state’s top law enforcement official on November 5.

The winner succeeds two-term Democratic gubernatorial candidate Attorney General Josh Stein. Democrats have dominated the office — no Republican has been elected attorney general since 1896 — even though the GOP has performed well for decades in other statewide elections. In 2016 and 2020, Stein won by fewer than 25,000 votes against his Republican opponent.

This fall’s campaign focused largely on who is best able to represent the nation’s ninth-largest state in court and keep its communities safe. While State Bureau of Investigation figures show North Carolina’s violent crime rate was higher in 2023 than a decade ago, it was essentially flat compared to 2022.

Both candidates and their PAC allies were on track to spend at least $31 million combined on television and online advertising during the general election campaign, according to data from AdImpact, which tracks campaign spending. The North Carolina race is one of the most closely watched of the 10 attorney general elections taking place across the United States next month.

The attorney general is responsible for representing the state in court and defending the work of locally elected district attorneys in appeals in criminal cases. AGs also make legislative recommendations to the General Assembly and, in the past, have sued certain industries for damages, including tobacco, drug and social media companies.

The fact that two members of the United States Congress are seeking office in state government reflects the growing influence of that office and the increasingly partisan role that state attorneys general play when it comes to seizing courts to support or oppose federal government policies.

Jackson is an Afghan War veteran and National Guard lawyer who gained a large following on social media and was elected to Congress in 2022. He spoke about his experience as a prosecutor – he worked as a prosecutor deputy in Gaston County, handling different types of cases – and his commitment to carrying out his duties in a non-partisan manner make him the most qualified candidate.

“The job is basically to serve as a shield for people against those who wish them harm,” Jackson said in a recent interview. “I spent my whole career doing this as a soldier, as a prosecutor. That’s why I want to be attorney general.”

Bishop, a longtime commercial litigation attorney, former Mecklenburg County commissioner and state legislator, joined Congress in 2019 and is a strong supporter of Republican presidential candidate and former President Donald Trump.

Bishop downplayed Jackson’s legal history as an assistant district attorney and pointed to what he estimates are his own 400 appearances in state and federal court.

“I have gained extensive and complex experience in the North Carolina justice system,” Bishop said in an interview. “He never had a career like that.”

Jackson said if elected, he will work to address the fentanyl overdose epidemic and combat scammers who are now using artificial intelligence techniques to deceive consumers.

Bishop accused Jackson of having “a long record of being soft on crime and antagonism toward the police.” He said what North Carolina needs is “restoration of law and order” and that he will work to convince what he considers liberal-leaning district attorneys who do not don’t do.

The position was a springboard for gubernatorial runs — outgoing Gov. Roy Cooper served as attorney general for 16 years. In recent years, Cooper and Stein stopped short of defending state laws pushed by Republicans that they deemed unconstitutional.

Jackson said in a recent interview that Stein was right to refuse to defend provisions in state laws restricting medication abortions and requiring what a doctor must do before prescribing abortion pills.

But Bishop says the reason Stein isn’t defending state laws passed by the Republican-controlled General Assembly is to advance his political career — and he alleged Jackson would do the same thing if he was elected.

Jackson and Bishop served together in the state Legislature, where Bishop shepherded a 2016 law prohibiting cities from enacting new anti-discrimination ordinances and requiring transgender people to use public restrooms corresponding to the gender listed on their birth certificate.

Jackson did not seek re-election to Congress this fall after the General Assembly redrew the legislative maps and placed him in a heavily Republican district.

Jackson and his allies also highlighted Bishop’s support for Republican Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson for governor, particularly after a CNN report alleging that Robinson posted racially and sexually explicit messages on a pornographic website’s forum . Robinson denied the allegation.

When asked if he remained comfortable with Robinson, Bishop said he was focused on winning the attorney general position and that “all matters involving the governor’s race are between Mark and voters.” But Jackson said it was “absurd” that Bishop “can’t bring himself to say a single critical word” about Robinson.

Earlier this month, Bishop filed a defamation suit against Jackson’s campaign and others, alleging that at least some of them are responsible for a political survey asking whether a voter would be more or less likely to vote for Bishop if he “represented people who stole.” old people’s money. Bishop says he has never represented such people. Jackson’s campaign suggested the lawsuit would fail.