Rep. Dan Bishop’s potential attorney general run ends campaign of likely GOP front-runner

A potential Republican front-runner in North Carolina’s attorney general’s race ended his campaign days before its launch after learning from Rep. Dan Bishop the congressman wants the seat.

“I was planning on rolling out a campaign last week,” former U.S. Attorney Andrew Murray told McClatchy. “Then I got word that Dan Bishop was more than flirting with it.”

Murray, who serves as district attorney for Henderson, Polk and Transylvania counties, said he was recruited for the job by the Republican Attorneys General Association. He previously served as Mecklenburg County District Attorney from 2011 to 2017.

Tom Murry, a Republican and former state representative, already announced his candidacy. North Carolina’s political insiders speculate other potential Republican candidates include House Speaker Tim Moore, Moore’s General Counsel Sam Hayes, Sen. Danny Britt, Forsyth County District Attorney Jim O’Neill and North Carolina Chamber of Commerce Legal Institute President Ray Starling.

”RAGA is the one who initially contacted me and sparked my interest and wanted me to to run,” Murray said, but added that he wouldn’t get into those conversations.

Then he heard from Bishop, Axios Raleigh first reported.

“I had a direct conversation with him last weekend,” Murray said. “That culminated in a text to me two days later that convinced me that he was committed to running.”

Murray said he decided against getting involved “in a bruising primary.”

Bishop

Bishop, 58, is a Charlotte Republican who’s served in Congress since a special election in 2019. He previously served in the North Carolina House and Senate and on the Mecklenburg County Board of Commissioners.

He and a spokesperson did not respond to requests for comment. Political consultant Jim Blaine, who would manage Bishop’s campaign, said he would not comment.

Blaine’s firm, however, released a poll in December showing Bishop with a 7 point lead over O’Neill if the two ran against one another for the job.

Bishop is an outspoken member of the Freedom Caucus, a group of some of the most conservative members of Congress, and was instrumental in both blocking, and eventually helping, the election of Rep. Kevin McCarthy for House Speaker.

Bishop says that federal law enforcement agencies have been weaponized against Republicans and wanted to form a committee to investigate those organizations. Bishop traded his vote for McCarthy for the creation of that committee.

He also authored House Bill 2, an infamous piece of legislation that banned transgender individuals from using public bathrooms of the gender they identify with. Instead, it forced them to use the the bathroom of the gender on their birth certificate. It came in response to a Charlotte anti-discrimination ordinance. The bill cost North Carolina more than $400 million as both companies and entertainers refused to come to the state following the bill’s passage.

Money

The influential Republican group Club for Growth already announced its support of Bishop.

“We think Dan Bishop would be a great Attorney General, and we hope he decides to run,” said David McIntosh, president of Club for Growth PAC, in a written statement to McClatchy.

Club for Growth PAC spent around $19.2 million in the 2020 election helping candidates it felt supported limited government and economic freedom. It’s been involved in North Carolina elections since 2012, when it supported Republican Scott Keadle for Congress.

Now-Sen. Ted Budd gave the club its first win in North Carolina elections in 2016 when he ran for the U.S. House. Their support, along with the endorsement of former President Donald Trump, also lifted Budd from a third place candidate to being elected as a U.S. Senator in 2022.

A Budd spokesman said the senator also could endorse Bishop.

“There are a lot of strong candidates looking at the AG race, but, should Bishop run for AG, it would not surprise me if Ted endorses him,” said Jonathan Felts, Budd’s campaign adviser.

2024

North Carolina’s Republican primary is slated for March 5, 2024. Filing begins Dec. 4.

The shapes of the congressional districts for 2024 still remain unclear. On Friday, the N.C. Supreme Court gave state lawmakers permission to redraw the congressional districts with little, if any oversight, from the court and was told that partisan gerrymandering was not illegal.

There’s widespread speculation Republican lawmakers intend to take North Carolina’s seven Republican and seven Democratic districts and redraw them into a 10 or more Republican majority. Lawmakers currently intend to redraw the map in the early fall leaving all candidates in limbo about where to run until that happens.