Jeff Jackson, NC congressman drawn out of his seat, will run for NC attorney general 'to fight political corruption'
North Carolina U.S. Rep. Jeff Jackson, D-Charlotte, won't seek reelection to Congress and instead run for state attorney general in 2024, setting up a possible showdown with another congressman, U.S. Rep Dan Bishop, who is seeking the Republican nomination for the AG seat.
Jackson's announcement came less than 24 hours after he saw his congressional district turned into a heavily Republican district under new maps approved Wednesday by the Republican-led state legislature — a move that is fueling his campaign pitch.
"I've officially been drawn out of my congressional district by a small group of politicians," Jackson said in a video posted Thursday on social media. "It’s blatant corruption, but I’ve got news for them: I’m running for Attorney General, and I’m going to use that job to fight political corruption."
It's the latest major political announcement now that the new voting districts have been approved, and more are expected. Even as lawmakers debated the maps Wednesday the game of political musical chairs had begun.
Former U.S. Rep. Mark Walker said Wednesday that he would end his bid for the Republican gubernatorial nomination to pursue the 6th Congressional District seat currently occupied by Democratic U.S. Rep. Kathy Manning, which now will lean solidly Republican.
State House Speaker Tim Moore said Tuesday that he’s considering running for Congress — in a newly drawn, solidly Republican version of Jackson’s old district that will include Moore’s hometown of Kings Mountain.
Meanwhile, Republican hopefuls began to target legislative seats. Scott Lassiter, the former Apex Town Council member known for suing Moore in June, announced Wednesday that he’ll run for a newly created state Senate seat in southwest Wake County, expected to be one of the few competitive districts anywhere in the state. The Democratic nominee could be Sen. Lisa Grafstein, a north Raleigh lawmaker who plans to move to the southwestern district after Republicans drew her out of her current district.
The fight for AG
Jackson's announcement video features lengthy clips of him sparring with an opponent in a boxing ring. "There are people who mean you harm," he narrates over the footage. "The job is about standing between you and them, which means I'm going to take some hits. But it also means fighting back."
The AG's office is wide open next year because current Attorney General Josh Stein, a Democrat, will be running for governor seeking to replace Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper, who is term-limited and can't run for a third term as governor.
Jackson flirted with a run for U.S. Senate in 2022 before bowing out to let Democrats coalesce around eventual nominee Cheri Beasley. In just a year in Congress he's developed a national profile due to his prolific social media presence. He immediately becomes the favorite to win the Democratic nomination for AG; other announced Democratic candidates include Fayetteville attorney Tim Dunn and Duplin County attorney Charles Ingram.
Bishop, R-Waxhaw, announced in August that he'd be leaving Congress to run for attorney general. In his announcement, he said he'd be "a tireless backer of our state’s prosecutors and law enforcement officers." And that he'd prioritize "protecting the public and keeping criminals behind bars."
If both he and Jackson emerge from primary races, it could be the most expensive race for AG ever. In their 2022 congressional runs Jackson raised $5.7 million and Bishop raised $1.9 million — despite neither running statewide, nor facing a true threat in their elections.
Jackson’s 2022 haul alone is equal to what Stein and his Republican opponent, Buck Newton, combined to raise in 2016, the last time there was a race for attorney general with no incumbent.
Bishop and Jackson are used to butting heads. They previously served together in the state Senate, where Bishop was the lead sponsor of a 2016 law often called HB 2 that limited transgender rights and led companies, sports tournaments and musical acts to boycott North Carolina until it was partially repealed the next year. Jackson was a frequent critic of that law.
They've both now gone to Washington to represent North Carolina and built national followings in the process; Bishop frequently appears on conservative media as a member of the far-right Freedom Caucus that has recently been the subject of much attention within the U.S. House of Representatives during fights over government shutdowns attempts, House speaker drama and more.
And they’ve kept sniping at each other.
When Bishop announced he was running for attorney general in August, Jackson slammed Bishop for voting on Jan. 6, 2021 to try denying the results of the 2020 election. “I heard him say he's running to re-establish law and order, and I just think that's a tough sell coming from someone who supported overturning an election,” Jackson said.
On Thursday Bishop shot back: “Jeff Jackson is a woke liberal who wants to bring the same protect-the-criminals policies that ruined San Francisco, New York and Chicago to North Carolina,” Bishop said.
Attorneys general historically have focused on handling appeals in criminal cases or representing state agencies in court. Many also undertake a wide range of civil actions, ranging from consumer protection lawsuits to going after scammers and price-gougers.
Stein has won well over $1 billion for North Carolina during his two terms as attorney general by suing numerous opioid companies and distributors, the e-cigarette maker Juul and others.
The office — both in North Carolina and nationwide — has also become more political in recent years.
Stein is one of many attorneys general who sued former Republican President Donald Trump's administration over various policies; Republican attorneys general in other states have likewise launched multiple lawsuits against Democratic President Joe Biden's administration. And Republican lawmakers heavily criticized Stein for refusing to defend a controversial new abortion law in court this year, as they also criticized Cooper when he was attorney general in 2016 and refused to defend HB2. In both cases Stein and Cooper said they wouldn't defend laws they believed to be unconstitutional.
Others on the fence
As Jackson moves ahead with his 2024 plans, some of North Carolina's other Democratic U.S. House members who will also likely be unable to win reelection under the new maps have remained mum.
Anti-gerrymandering groups and Democrats have questioned the legality of the maps, saying they discriminate against Black voters and potentially violate other rules, too. Republicans, emboldened by a recent decision from the GOP-majority state Supreme Court, say the maps are fair and legal.
Some of the other Democratic members of Congress, including Manning, appear to be waiting to announce their future plans until they see what happens with the gerrymandering lawsuits that are all but certain to be filed against the new maps.
U.S. Rep. Wiley Nickel, D-Cary, is also pushing for lawsuits against the new districts, which would turn his currently competitive seat into one that solidly favors a Republican.
"They have been drawn up in a way that eliminates a real choice at the ballot box," Nickel said. "This isn't what voters want. They want fair maps."
In the meantime Republican hopefuls are already lining up to run in that district should it survive the impending lawsuits. State legislator Rep. Erin Pare, R-Wake, has announced she'll run for the redrawn district. So has Josh McConkey, a doctor from Apex, and Matt Shoemaker, a conservative media commentator. Some of the eight Republicans who ran for the district in 2022 — in a primary won by Bo Hines — might also run again, now that it's a more solidly Republican seat.
Manning, D-Greensboro, who would now have to face Walker in a heavily conservative district, hasn’t announced her plans yet. The district she currently represents was drawn under court order, after Republicans lost a gerrymandering lawsuit in 2021, and she and other Democrats are hoping for similar results again.
Nickel's comments came Thursday during a news conference the North Carolina Democratic Party held. State party leaders including U.S. Rep. Deborah Ross, D-Wake, indicated that one or more lawsuits could soon be on their way alleging that the maps unconstitutionally target Black voters in particular, diluting their political influence in a state where nearly one in every four people is Black.
"We are exploring racial gerrymandering claims right now," Ross said.
