Rep. Dan Bishop says giving up seat in Congress worth the risk to try to win back in NC

U.S. Rep. Dan Bishop knows he’s taking a “calculated risk” by foregoing a reelection bid for Congress in a red district to run for attorney general in a state that hasn’t elected a Republican to that position in more than a century.

But, he told reporters Wednesday in Charlotte, it’s a risk he believes is worth taking to avoid getting caught up in a “status quo in Washington” that he said prevents real change from happening. He expressed frustration about “a slow process” despite having “a lot of dynamism” among Republicans.

“One of the aspects of the status quo in Washington that I described is people who rest on their laurels, people who do safe things,” Bishop said at a news conference after a Republican Women of Greater Charlotte lunch in SouthPark, his first public appearance since declaring for the race.

Bishop, who currently represents North Carolina’s 8th Congressional District, announced his candidacy for state attorney general Aug. 3 during an appearance on WBT radio.

In Congress, he’s made headlines for his role with the Freedom Caucus, a band of ultraconservative Republican representatives known for being willing to delay legislation, stop debt ceiling deals and stall House Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s ascent to the speaker position.

He’s served in the U.S. House of Representatives since 2019, winning reelection in 2022 with about 70% of the vote, after stints with the Mecklenburg County Board of Commissioners, North Carolina House of Representatives and North Carolina Senate.

Redistricting could also shake up the landscape of his current congressional district, he added. While congressional representatives don’t have to live in their district, Bishop moved into his earlier this year, selling his Charlotte home and moving to Waxhaw, records show.

Bishop’s AG platform

The chance to be attorney general of his home state also is exciting, Bishop said.

“I think it is an opportunity to come back to serve one of the interests that is most challenged in our society today: law and order,” he said.

If elected, Bishop said a top priority will be to “to be a voice for law enforcement,” claiming without evidence that efforts by Democrats to “defund the police” have led directly to “rapid increases first of homicides and then of all violent crime.”

“The attorneys general in the states have emerged as a very potent force in keeping federal agencies and the federal bureaucracy within bounds,” Bishop added, citing cases brought by Republican attorneys general that have made it to the U.S. Supreme Court, including the recent ruling on student loan forgiveness.

Not constructive to ‘seek stages,’ Bishop says

In Congress, Bishop and the Freedom Caucus have gone to battle with McCarthy in ways that have at times paralyzed the House, with Bishop among its leaders. Among those flare-ups: typically noncontroversial votes about rules for bills that turned testy as revenge for McCarthy agreeing to a debt ceiling deal with President Joe Biden.

Bishop said Wednesday he’s proud of his work with the caucus, which he said is “trying to work on changing the way the House works,” and to have made media appearances on its behalf while in Congress.

But, he said, he ultimately feels it’s “not very constructive” for politicians to “seek stages.”

“Some folks accuse me of this, and it’s just not true. That’s why I’m doing this,” he said of his run for attorney general. “If I want to go and pump up my profile or get clicks or whatever, I keep doing what I was doing, and I’d be more outrageous and stay at it. But the call is to get in the fight, get in the effort in whatever way at a particular moment you believe you can best serve.”

Bishop said he won’t “step back in terms of asserting myself” as attorney general, but that he doesn’t desire media attention.

“I’ll be out there and continue to take the arrows or whatever, but I don’t yearn for that, and I’ve never clung to it,” he said.

State of the AG race in North Carolina

Florida’s U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz and Colorado’s U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert, both also members of the Freedom Caucus, have endorsed Bishop’s campaign on social media.

Bishop has also picked up an endorsement since announcing from The Republican Attorneys General Association and the Club for Growth, a conservative Super PAC that’s in the past helped raise millions in North Carolina.

He’ll face Tom Murry — an Army veteran, attorney, prosecutor and former N.C. House member — in the Republican primary.

There’s speculation U.S. Rep. Jeff Jackson, of Charlotte, will seek the Democratic nomination for attorney general, the Observer reported previously. Jackson said previously he’s waiting until updated congressional maps are released to make a decision about his future. Attorneys Tim Dunn and Charles Ingram have already announced their candidacies in the Democratic race.

Asked about Jackson’s potential candidacy Wednesday, Bishop said he thinks some of the speculation is driven more by the media than Jackson himself.

“I think he’s delighted to be in Congress … and I think he really wants to stay there,” he said.

Current North Carolina Attorney General Josh Stein, a Democrat, is running for governor in 2024.

As to who should succeed him in the House, Bishop said it’s not his place to pick a candidate.

“I think it sort of disrespects the public, disrespects the voters to try to pick your successor,” he said.