There’s an open race for North Carolina attorney general. The current attorney general, Democrat Josh Stein, is running for governor. Republican Dan Bishop and Democrat Jeff Jackson, both congressmen, are vying to replace him. 

Jackson and Bishop met to discuss the issues at an event hosted by the North Carolina Bar Association. Spectrum News 1’s Tim Boyum moderated the forum.

Watch the full hourlong forum above. Here are some highlights from the candidates:

Bishop: “The key role of the attorney general in North Carolina is to enforce the law. Not laws that you like, only, and disregard laws that you don’t like. Not to serve as a policy counterweight to an elected legislature.”

“When it comes to questions about policy, it is not for the attorney general to do what he wants to do.”

“What we’ve seen in the past two attorneys general in North Carolina, and what Jeff has vowed to do … is to oppose the legislature on policy issues with which he disagrees.”

“The elected legislature and the law, that’s the way the law is made. And if we do that, that is the end of law.”

Jackson: “Speaking of the law, all of that big speech came from someone who voted against certifying the last election.”

“Here’s what I would do to keep people safe: first, fentanyl. We’re losing nine people a day in our state to the fentanyl epidemic. We need to do a better job of identifying and breaking up the distribution cells that exist in our state.”

“Scammers: scammers are about to get their hands on artificial intelligence. AI-enabled scammers is going to be a new type of threat that the attorney general needs to aggressively meet.”

“We need a cold case unit … at the Attorney General’s Office. The General Assembly did a very good thing a few years ago. They put a few million dollars aside to help clear the rape kit backlog. That helped get justice for victims, but it also helped us identify perpetrators who were at large. We should take the same idea with the same approach.”

Jackson: “I believe the only way to earn trust, particularly in a law enforcement job, and that’s what this is, is to treat it in a fundamentally nonpartisan way.”

“I score among the top 5% most bipartisan members of Congress. My opponent scores in the bottom 5%. He is in the 5% most extreme members of Congress.”

“Four hundred and thirty five members of Congress, you get a few extremists there, we can handle it. If we get an extremist in the role of attorney general, that would be a radical departure from anything we have ever seen before in this state.”

Bishop: “The problem in North Carolina, if you ask a law enforcement officer or a DA in North Carolina, is an unsecured border where fentanyl pours over the border. And the way to fix that is not tinkering with this statute or that statute in North Carolina, it is to secure the border.”

“Jeff Jackson has voted with the most extreme leftists in Congress against every measure to secure the border that we have proposed.”  

“Remember the motto of North Carolina: ‘To be, rather than to seem.’ He may seem to be moderate, but his record is radically leftist.”

“If you look at his record, he voted against the Secure the Border Act, he voted against the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act, he voted in the legislature against the anti-rioting bill, against the anti-criminal gang bill, against the anti-graffiti vandalism bill, against requiring sheriffs to cooperate with (Immigration and Customs Enforcement).”

Bishop: “Law enforcement in North Carolina always have in the past cooperated with federal immigration authorities seeking to control illegal immigration.”

“Federal administration of the security of our border has become disastrous.” 

“Locally, the answer is also clear. Right now, there is a bill in the North Carolina legislature to require sheriffs to cooperate with ICE. That should have been done years ago. But Jeff opposed it in 2022 when it came up and he appears to oppose it today, based on his comments.”

“One of the top roles of the attorney general is to coordinate and focus law enforcement and to help them get their job done. And their job is to preserve order.”

Jackson: “He talks tough on the border. Don’t buy it. We have a way to secure the border, which we should do, if for no other reason than we’re a sovereign nation. Sovereign nations should have control over their border. There was a bipartisan proposal that wasn’t perfect, we needed to work on it, but instead of working on it in the House, the far right, led exactly by folks like my opponent, decided to kill it.”

“They want the problem, they want the border to be a mess, precisely so they can use it in the exact political attack we just saw.”

“He can’t afford to solve the border, because he needs it for his campaign.”

“I am a strong advocate for reaching a sensible solution on the border.”

Jackson: “The attorney general serves not just as the top law enforcement officer, top prosecutor, but also the top legal adviser to the state. One of the core functions of the attorney general is to represent in court all of the state agencies.”

“I fully expect that that will involve representing a state agency and making a decision that I don’t personally agree with. There’s a 100% chance that that happens, and that’s the job.”

“Barring a clear violation of the Constitution, I would be duty-bound to represent the state, even in matters with which I disagree.”

Bishop: “That’s not what (Jackson) has told audiences all over North Carolina. He’s told audiences that he disagrees with the General Assembly’s moderate 12-week ban on abortion, for example. And he’s told them he’s going to fight that as the attorney general.”

“He has consistently opposed, like the last two attorneys general have consistently opposed, voter ID in North Carolina.”

“He’s setting himself up as a legislative policy opposition point to the legislature, and that is unworkable and that is wrong.”

Bishop: “I am not a policy maker. I do not have a strong position on the legalization of marijuana. I believe, as we look at the results that have obtained in states like Colorado, it appears to me to be unwise. I do not believe that people should be incarcerated, nor need they be, or have their lives ruined by minor drug offenses.”

Jackson: “It is appropriate for the attorney general to be an advocate for reform to the General Assembly, particularly with respect to the criminal justice system.”

“Roughly two dozen states have transitioned from taking a criminal approach to a regulatory approach, and the sky has fallen in none of them. Instead, what we’ve seen is some states doing it better, some states doing it worse.”