Josh Stein will be North Carolina’s next governor, according to unofficial results from the N.C. State Board of Elections. As of 8:20 p.m., Stein had won 58.4 percent of the vote, while his Republican opponent Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson had won 37.47 percent with seven percent of precincts reporting.
Stein has served as North Carolina’s attorney general since 2017, and as a state senator for North Carolina’s 16th district from 2009 until 2016. He grew up in Chapel Hill and Charlotte and attended Harvard Law School.
He ran on a platform advocating for increasing funding for public education, Medicaid expansion and reducing violent crime. Stein’s priorities also include strengthening Career Technical Education and apprenticeship programs, investing in infrastructure in rural areas and advocating for reproductive rights.
“We want to build a better future,” Stein said at Vice President Kamala Harris’ recent rally in Raleigh. “We choose hope over hate, competence over chaos.”
Stein’s endorsements include Gov. Roy Cooper, former Govs. Jim Hunt and Bev Perdue, U.S. Reps. Valerie Foushee (NC-4) and Jeff Jackson (NC-14).
Robinson, the Republican candidate for governor endorsed by former President Donald Trump, has served as the state’s lieutenant governor since 2021. His platform focused on supporting law enforcement, supporting the agricultural industry and advocating for a statewide abortion ban at 5-6 weeks or less.
Stein has held a consistent lead over Robinson in the polls over the last few months.
Robinson has been in the news over the past few years for homophobic and racist comments. In late September, CNN published a story reporting that Robinson made comments on pornography sites saying he enjoyed watching transgender pornography, called himself a “Black Nazi” and expressed his interest in “buying a few” slaves if slavery were re-instated.
Robinson denied these actions in an interview with CNN and in a video posted on X. Earlier this month, he announced a lawsuit against CNN, saying that their reporting was defamatory.
