The 2020 North Carolina election for Attorney General was held on November 3, 2020, to elect the Attorney General of North Carolina, concurrently with the 2020 U.S. presidential election, as well as elections to the United States Senate and elections to the United States House of Representatives and various state and local elections.
Party primary elections were held on March 3, 2020.
Incumbent Democratic Attorney General Josh Stein, first elected in 2016, ran for re-election against Republican Forsyth County District Attorney Jim O'Neill. With a narrow margin separating Stein and O'Neill (0.26%), the Associated Press was finally able to call Stein the winner on November 17, 2020, (two weeks after Election Day). This also made this attorney general race the closest of the 2020 election cycle.
Democratic primary Candidates Nominee Josh Stein, incumbent attorney general
Republican primary Candidates Nominee Jim O'Neill, Forsyth County district attorney and candidate for North Carolina Attorney General in 2016
Eliminated in primary Sam Hayes, general counsel for the North Carolina State Treasurer Dale Folwell Christine Mumma, executive director of the North Carolina Center on Actual Innocence
Results
General election Predictions SourceRankingAs ofThe Cook Political ReportJune 25, 2020
Polling
Poll source Date(s)administered Samplesize Margin oferror JoshStein (D) JimO'Neill (R) Other UndecidedEast Carolina UniversityEast Carolina UniversityOctober 27–28, 20201,103 (LV)± 3.4%49%42%3%6%Meeting Street Insights (R)Meeting Street Insights (R) October 24–27, 2020600 (LV)± 4%49%44% –4%East Carolina UniversityEast Carolina UniversityOctober 15–18, 20201,155 (LV)± 3.4%49%44%2%5%East Carolina UniversityEast Carolina University October 2–4, 2020 1,232 (LV) ± 3.2% 43%46% 2% 9%Cardinal Point Analytics (R)Cardinal Point Analytics (R) July 22–24, 2020 735 (LV) ± 3.6% 40% 45% – 15%Cardinal Point Analytics (R)Cardinal Point Analytics (R)July 13–15, 2020 547 (LV) ± 4.2% 43% 43% – 14%
Results
By congressional district Despite losing the state, O'Neill won eight of 13 congressional districts. District Stein O'Neill Representative 56% 44%G. K. Butterfield65%35%George HoldingDeborah K. Ross 39% 61%Greg Murphy 67% 33%David Price 34% 66%Virginia Foxx62%38%Mark WalkerKathy Manning 43% 57%David Rouzer 48% 52%Richard Hudson 46% 54%Dan Bishop 33% 67%Patrick McHenry 45% 55%Madison Cawthorn 70% 30%Alma Adams 34% 66%Ted Budd
Notes
References
External links
(State affiliate of the U.S. League of Women Voters)
Official campaign websites Jim O'Neill (R) for Attorney General Josh Stein (D) for Attorney General