North Carolina Attorney General Candidate Dan Bishop Faces Scrutiny Over Voting Record
Republican Representative Dan Bishop, currently campaigning for the Attorney General position in North Carolina, has made law and order a central theme of his platform. However, his legislative record reveals a pattern of opposing funding measures that could benefit law enforcement and victims of violent crimes.
As the representative of North Carolina’s eighth district in the U.S. House, Bishop announced his candidacy for Attorney General last year. The FBI reports a downward trend in crime rates since 2020, with North Carolina experiencing a 15% decrease in both violent and property crimes over the past decade. Despite these statistics, public safety remains a key concern for voters.
Bishop has capitalized on this concern, frequently posting on social media about rising crime rates. In a January post on X, he stated, “Democrat governance brings disorder and danger to our cities … When I’m AG, we’ll support our law enforcement 24/7/365 to keep our streets safe.”
However, Bishop’s voting history tells a different story. In September 2022, he voted against two significant crime bills: the VICTIM Act and the Break the Cycle Act. These bills aimed to equip local police departments with resources to enhance investigative methods and develop violence prevention strategies. Both measures passed the House with bipartisan support but were stalled in the Senate.
Additionally, in 2021, Bishop opposed the renewal of the Violence Against Women Act, which included provisions to combat human trafficking and bolster law enforcement in tribal areas. These initiatives could have been particularly beneficial to his constituents, given North Carolina’s twelfth-place ranking in the nation for human trafficking. Charlotte, partly within Bishop’s district, is a known hotspot for such activities. His district also includes the Lumbee Native American tribe, with 31 unsolved cases of missing Native American women since 1998.
Before his tenure in Congress, Bishop served as a state senator. In 2019, he voted against an amendment to increase the North Carolina Department of Justice’s budget by $3 million annually.
Bishop has also expressed skepticism towards federal law enforcement agencies. In 2023, as reported by Axios, he and fellow House Republicans considered budget cuts for the FBI and the Justice Department, citing alleged biases against conservatives, including former President Donald Trump. However, these claims lacked supporting evidence.
Bishop’s Democratic opponent in the Attorney General race is Representative Jeff Jackson. The Bishop campaign did not immediately respond to requests for comment regarding his voting record.
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