2016 North Carolina Attorney General election
← 2012 November 8, 2016 2020 →
 
Nominee Josh Stein Buck Newton
Party Democratic Republican
Popular vote 2,303,681 2,279,076
Percentage 50.3% 49.7%
Stein:      50–60%      60–70%      70–80%      80–90%      >90%
Newton:      50–60%      60–70%      70–80%      80–90%      >90%
Attorney General before election

Roy Cooper
Democratic

Elected Attorney General

Josh Stein
Democratic

Elections in North Carolina
Federal government
U.S. President
U.S. Senate
U.S. House of Representatives
State executive
Gubernatorial elections
Lieutenant Governor elections
Attorney General elections
Council of State elections
Secretary of State elections
State legislature
State Senate elections
State House elections
State judiciary
Judicial elections
Ballot measures
2012
Amendment 1
Mayoral elections
Charlotte mayoral elections
Cary mayoral elections
Durham mayoral elections
Fayetteville mayoral elections
Greensboro mayoral elections
Raleigh mayoral elections
Winston-Salem mayoral elections

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.

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

Candidates

Declared

Declined

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

Candidates

Declared

Declined

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

Results by precinct
Stein
  •      50-60%
  •      60-70%
  •      70-80%
  •      80-90%
  •      90-100%
Tie
  •      40–50%
Newton
  •      50-60%
  •      60-70%
  •      70-80%
  •      80-90%
  •      90-100%
[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. ^ a b "Attorney General Announces Candidacy For Governor". Charlotte Observer. November 6, 2014. Archived from the original on November 8, 2014. Retrieved November 7, 2014.
  2. ^ "Josh Stein bests Buck Newton in attorney general race | The Wilson Times". Archived from the original on November 10, 2016. Retrieved November 10, 2016.
  3. ^ a b "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. Archived from the original on September 29, 2015. Retrieved October 13, 2015.
  5. ^ Evans, Meghann (December 19, 2015). "Candidates file for state, local races Friday". Winston-Salem Journal. Archived from the original on February 19, 2019. Retrieved December 21, 2015.
  6. ^ "Former Congressional candidate Tim Dunn of Fayetteville plans run for attorney general". The News & Observer. November 17, 2014. Archived from the original on December 25, 2014. Retrieved November 21, 2014.
  7. ^ "NC SBE Election Contest Details". er.ncsbe.gov. Archived from the original on May 14, 2021. Retrieved October 7, 2021.
  8. ^ Campbell, Colin (March 13, 2015). "NC Sen. Buck Newton considers run for attorney general". The News & Observer. Archived from the original on March 15, 2015. 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. Archived from the original on December 6, 2018. 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. Archived from the original on September 15, 2015. Retrieved September 10, 2015.
  13. ^ "NC SBE Election Contest Details". er.ncsbe.gov. Archived from the original on May 15, 2021. Retrieved October 7, 2021.
  14. ^ "NC SBE Election Contest Details". er.ncsbe.gov. Archived from the original on May 14, 2021. Retrieved October 7, 2021.

External links

(2015 ←)   2016 United States elections   (→ 2017)
Categories