The 2016 North Carolina Attorney General election was held on November 8, 2016, to elect the Attorney General of North Carolina, concurrently with the 2016 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.
Incumbent Democratic Attorney General Roy Cooper chose not to run for re-election to a fifth term in office, and instead successfully ran for Governor.
Primary elections were held on March 15, 2016.
Democratic former state senator Josh Stein defeated Republican state senator Buck Newton in the general election. With a margin of 0.4%, this was the closest attorney general race of the 2016 election cycle.
Democratic primary Attorney Tim Dunn had announced in November 2014 that he planned to run for attorney general if Roy Cooper did not run for re-election. Cooper did run for governor as expected, but Dunn did not make any further announcements and did not end up running.
Candidates Declared Josh Stein, former state senator and former deputy attorney general of North Carolina Marcus Williams, attorney, candidate for U.S. Senate in 2008 and 2010, candidate for NC-08 in 2012, and candidate for state senate in 2014
Declined Roy Cooper, incumbent Attorney General (ran for Governor) Tim Dunn, attorney and perennial candidate
Results
Republican primary Candidates Declared Buck Newton, state senator Jim O'Neill, Forsyth County District Attorney
Declined George Rouco, attorney and former CIA officer (ran for NC-09)
Results
General election Predictions Source Ranking Governing
Polling Poll source Date(s)administered Samplesize Margin oferror JoshStein (D) BuckNewton (R) Other UndecidedSurveyUSASurveyUSA October 28–31, 2016 659 ± 3.9% 47% 43% — 10%Public Policy PollingPublic Policy Polling October 21–22, 2016 875 ± 3.3% 44% 39% — 17%Civitas InstituteCivitas Institute October 14–18, 2016 651 ± 3.1% 38% 40% — 18%Public Policy PollingPublic Policy Polling September 18–20, 2016 1,024 ± 3.1% 39% 35% — 25%Civitas InstituteCivitas Institute September 11–12, 2016 600 ± 4.0% 37% 35% — 26%Public Policy PollingPublic Policy Polling August 5–7, 2016 830 ± 3.4% 39% 38% — 23%Civitas InstituteCivitas Institute June 21–26, 2016 600 ± 4.0% 35% 35% — 27%Public Policy PollingPublic Policy Polling May 20–22, 2016 928 ± 3.2% 39% 38% — 22%RABA ResearchRABA Research April 27–28, 2016 688 ± 3.7% 40% 33% — 27%Civitas InstituteCivitas Institute April 23–25, 2016 600 ± 4.0% 37% 32% 1% 30%Public Policy PollingPublic Policy Polling March 18–20, 2016 843 ± 3.4% 38% 37% — 24%
Results
References
External links Buck Newton for Attorney General Jim O'Neill for Attorney General Josh Stein for Attorney General Marcus Williams for Attorney General