Election Denier Dan Bishop Is Running for NC Attorney General

Bishop, a major player in the far-right wing of the Republican Party, is closely aligned with ex-president Donald Trump and voted against certifying the 2020 election results. 

Congressman Dan Bishop, who tried to block certification of the 2020 presidential election results and dismissed the importance of the Jan. 6 insurrection, wants to be North Carolina’s top law enforcement official, he announced on Thursday.

Bishop plans to run for state attorney general in the 2024 elections. 

Closely aligned with former president Donald Trump, Bishop is a major player in the far-right wing of the Republican Party. He represents North Carolina’s 8th Congressional district.

Bishop made the announcement Thursday morning to the radio station WBT in Charlotte. He will make a formal announcement on Friday, he said.

“We’ve decided this is the right thing for me to do,” he told WBT Thursday morning. “It’s an enormously influential post.”

Bishop said that as attorney general he would work to “contain the federal bureaucracy from overreach,” and support law enforcement.

Election Denial

The mob that attacked the Capitol in 2021 assaulted nearly 140 police officers and left a US Capitol officer dead. 

Shortly before the attack, Trump spoke to the crowd, repeating many of the lies of election fraud he’d been telling for weeks. Bishop cited those same lies as justification for voting against certifying the 2020 election in several states. 

Trump supporters try to break through a police barrier at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez, File)

In the days after the assault, Bishop condemned the pro-Trump “mob” as “troublesome,” but denied Jan. 6 was an insurrection. He later criticized US House efforts to investigate the attack and Trump’s role in inciting it.

“If it was an insurrection, it was the worst example of an insurrection in the history of mankind,” Bishop said on the House floor.

The attack caused nearly $2.9 million in damages, and resulted in charges against nearly 1,100 people. This week, a grand jury charged Trump with conspiring to defraud the United States over his attempts to overturn the 2020 presidential election.

What Is an Attorney General?

So what does the North Carolina attorney general do?

They lead the state Justice Department and represent the state in all legal matters. They also advise the state’s district attorneys, and can intervene in court proceedings on the state’s behalf. 

What has Bishop done?

• While a member of the North Carolina General Assembly in 2016, he helped write House Bill 2, which barred transgender people from using the bathroom of their choice. The bill faced huge criticism, cost the state nearly $4 billion, and was ultimately repealed. 

• He’s called for a federal abortion ban, even in cases of rape or incest. 

• He was the only North Carolina member of the US House to vote against raising the debt ceiling in June. Defaulting on the nation’s debt would have crashed the stock market, spiked interest rates, potentially stopped social security payments, and likely sparked a recession. 

The political action committee for Club for Growth, an anti-tax and limited-government group, endorsed Bishop on Thursday.

The group has applauded his votes against the Biden Administration’s investments in infrastructure, economic relief and the fight against climate change.

North Carolina has received tens of billions of dollars through these programs to repair roads, help residents recover from the pandemic, and invest in renewable energy.