2016 North Carolina Attorney General election

The 2016 North Carolina 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.

2016 North Carolina Attorney General election

November 8, 2016

Nominee Josh Stein Buck Newton Party Democratic Republican Popular vote 2,303,681 2,279,076 Percentage 50.3% 49.7%

Results by county Stein:      50–60%      60–70%      70–80% Newton:      50–60%      60–70%      70–80%

Attorney General before election Roy Cooper Democratic Elected Attorney General Josh Stein Democratic

Incumbent Democratic Attorney General Roy Cooper chose not to run for re-election to a fifth term in office, but instead successfully ran for Governor.[1]

Primary elections were held on March 15, 2016.

Democratic former state senator Josh Stein defeated Republican state senator Buck Newton in the general election.[2]

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.[3] Cooper did run for governor as expected, but Dunn did not make any further announcements and did not end up running.

Declared

• Josh Stein, former state senator and former deputy attorney general of North Carolina[4]
• 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[5]

Declined

• Roy Cooper, incumbent Attorney General (ran for Governor)[1]
• Tim Dunn, attorney and perennial candidate[3][6]

Results

Democratic primary results[7]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Josh Stein	510,003	53.4
	Democratic	Marcus Williams	445,524	46.6
Total votes			955,527	100.0

Republican primary

Declared

• Buck Newton, state senator[8][9]
• Jim O'Neill, Forsyth County District Attorney[10][11]

Declined

• George Rouco, attorney and former CIA officer (ran for NC-09)[12]

Results

Republican primary results [13]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Buck Newton	503,880	54.9
	Republican	Jim O'Neill	414,073	45.1
Total votes			917,953	100.0

General election

Polling

Poll source	Date(s) administered	Sample size	Margin of error	Josh Stein (D)	Buck Newton (R)	Other	Undecided
SurveyUSA	October 28–31, 2016	659	± 3.9%	47%	43%	—	10%
Public Policy Polling	October 21–22, 2016	875	± 3.3%	44%	39%	—	17%
Civitas Institute	October 14–18, 2016	651	± 3.1%	38%	40%	—	18%
Public Policy Polling	September 18–20, 2016	1,024	± 3.1%	39%	35%	—	25%
Civitas Institute	September 11–12, 2016	600	± 4.0%	37%	35%	—	26%
Public Policy Polling	August 5–7, 2016	830	± 3.4%	39%	38%	—	23%
Civitas Institute	June 21–26, 2016	600	± 4.0%	35%	35%	—	27%
Public Policy Polling	May 20–22, 2016	928	± 3.2%	39%	38%	—	22%
RABA Research	April 27–28, 2016	688	± 3.7%	40%	33%	—	27%
Civitas Institute	April 23–25, 2016	600	± 4.0%	37%	32%	1%	30%
Public Policy Polling	March 18–20, 2016	843	± 3.4%	38%	37%	—	24%

Results

[14]

North Carolina Attorney General election, 2016

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Democratic	Josh Stein	2,303,619	50.27%	-49.73%
	Republican	Buck Newton	2,279,006	49.73%	N/A
Total votes			4,582,625	100.00%	N/A
	Democratic hold

References

1. "Attorney General Announces Candidacy For Governor". Charlotte Observer. November 6, 2014. Archived from the original on November 8, 2014. Retrieved November 7, 2014.
2. http://www.wilsontimes.com/stories/Josh-Stein-bests-Buck-Newton-in-attorney-general-race,75992
3. "Inside Politics: Fayetteville lawyer plans run for state attorney general". The Fayetteville Observer. November 17, 2014. Retrieved November 21, 2014.
4. Knopf, Taylor (September 21, 2015). "State Sen. Josh Stein makes formal announcement for attorney general". The News & Observer. Retrieved October 13, 2015.
5. Evans, Meghann (December 19, 2015). "Candidates file for state, local races Friday". Winston-Salem Journal. Retrieved December 21, 2015.
6. "Former Congressional candidate Tim Dunn of Fayetteville plans run for attorney general". The News & Observer. November 17, 2014. Retrieved November 21, 2014.
7. State Board of Elections
8. Campbell, Colin (March 13, 2015). "NC Sen. Buck Newton considers run for attorney general". The News & Observer. Retrieved March 16, 2015.
9. Campbell, Colin (June 1, 2015). "NC Sen. Buck Newton to run for attorney general Sen. Buck Newton". The News & Observer. Retrieved June 1, 2015.
10. Sexton, Scott (February 17, 2015). "Forsyth's prosecutor may emerge as contender for NC attorney general". Winston-Salem Journal. Retrieved June 1, 2015.
11. Hewlett, Michael (September 15, 2015). "Forsyth District Attorney Jim O'Neill is running for state attorney general". Winston-Salem Journal. Retrieved September 16, 2015.
12. Perlmutt, David (September 3, 2015). "Attorney George Rouco, a former CIA officer, to run against Rep. Pittenger in GOP Primary". The Charlotte Observer. Retrieved September 10, 2015.
13. State Board of Elections
14. https://er.ncsbe.gov/contest_details.html?election_dt=11/08/2016&county_id=0&contest_id=1022

External links

• Buck Newton for Attorney General
• Jim O'Neill for Attorney General
• Josh Stein for Attorney General
• Marcus Williams for Attorney General