Meet the Candidate: Josh Stein

Josh Stein, 57, was born in Washington, D.C., but has lived in North Carolina since childhood. He’s a graduate of Chapel Hill High School and Dartmouth College. He’s also got degrees from Harvard and the Kennedy School of Government. Stein lives in Raleigh with his wife Anna. They have three children: Sam, Adam, and Leah. Since January 2017, he has served as the Tarheel State’s elected attorney general. He opted against running for a third term so that he could run for governor, hoping to succeed fellow Democrat Roy Cooper. In November’s general election, he’ll face Mark Robinson, the Republican lieutenant governor.

Gubernatorial Candidate Josh Stein At a Glance

• Born in Washington, D.C., but grew up in North Carolina. Graduated from Chapel Hill High School.
• Earned a bachelor’s degree from Dartmouth College.
• Married with three children.
• First elected as the state’s attorney general in 2016.
• Faces Republican Mark Robinson in the 2024 general election.

During his tenure as attorney general, Stein has:

• Battled the backlog of untested sexual assault kits.
• Led a bipartisan effort to get a nationwide opioid settlement that yielded $1.5 billion for North Carolina to go toward prevention, harm reduction, treatment, and recovery.
• Sued e-cigarette maker Juul for marketing to minors.
• Filed a brief in support of the Affordable Care Act.
• Opposed the 12-week abortion ban enacted in North Carolina last year.

Stein recently took time to answer some questions from Southpoint Access.

Southpoint Access: How do you plan to address housing affordability in North Carolina? 

Josh Stein: A home should be more than just a roof over your head – it should also be an anchor in a community that’s safe with good schools and jobs and a way to build wealth for homeowners. But for too many North Carolinians, not only is buying a home out of reach, but renting a place near where they work is unattainable. Too many people are unable to find a decent, affordable place to live in their hometown. Too many people are unable to raise their families near good jobs and good schools and still pay their bills or save for their kids’ education. Too many people find themselves experiencing the flip side of our state’s growth, rising housing costs because of constrained supply. I began my career as a lawyer working with the Self-Help Credit Union to revitalize the Walltown neighborhood in Durham and make affordable single-family homeownership a reality for working families. In the attorney general’s office, I have fought predatory mortgage lenders to protect the wealth homeowners have built in their homes. I also led coalition efforts of state attorneys general to file comments to fight housing discrimination and to promote community reinvestment by banks in historically underserved areas. As your governor, I will work to expand housing options across the state, so that our homes are a source of stability, not stress. That means increasing workforce homeownership opportunities, expanding the supply of affordable rental housing, and reducing homelessness. 

Southpoint Access: What initiatives do you have in mind for improving public transportation, including bus safety and efficiency? 

Josh Stein: We must invest in more robust transportation options to help North Carolina residents move around town and across the state. I am gratified by our investment in electric school buses and hope to see similar innovations across the transportation industry. I will continue to advocate for these policies as governor. We must also invest in critical transportation infrastructure in our rural communities, including roads and commuter rail. As governor, I look forward to working with local governments to assess the public transportation needs of their communities, and to bringing public and private partners to the table to coordinate our shared interest in keeping our state moving. 

Southpoint Access: How will you support small businesses and other elements of the economy? 

Josh Stein: Small businesses have been the backbone of our state’s success. Last year, 150,000 new jobs in our state came from small businesses: three-fourths of all new jobs. Making sure small businesses are set up for success is a priority of mine. We need to get healthcare prices down and ensure markets are competitive by preventing large corporations from illegally undercutting or constraining small businesses. We need to reduce red tape so small businesses can thrive. We also need to address labor shortages by continuing to develop our workforce. Strong public schools and career and technical education are critical. North Carolinians need a real shot at success, at starting a small business or getting a good-paying job, no matter whether they pursue a college education or not. To deliver that opportunity, we need to strengthen career and technical education, especially in our state’s growing, high-demand industries, expand apprenticeship programs, and support community colleges that are training students for the good-paying jobs of today and tomorrow. And the last piece is infrastructure. I will prioritize infrastructure improvements like broadband so that people can start and operate a business in any community. 

Southpoint Access: How can you improve education quality and resources in our schools? 

Josh Stein: We need to recommit our state to investing in public education. Years of underfunding are hurting our kids’ ability to learn and compete. As governor, I will invest in public education from pre-kindergarten to community college and university, including our HBCUs, and give teachers a real pay raise. Every child must start kindergarten healthy and ready to learn, and when that child graduates from high school, he or she must have learned the skills and knowledge to succeed, whether starting college or a career. We must invest in lowering childcare costs for families and ensure schools have the support staff they need, including interpreters and bilingual educators. Over the years, I have worked across the aisle to deliver for North Carolinians. Education is the ultimate bipartisan issue; every community depends on strong public schools to thrive now and into the future 

Southpoint Access: How will you address environmental issues and promote sustainability in North Carolina? 

Josh Stein: North Carolina is home to incredible natural beauty – from the Blue Ridge Mountains to our barrier islands and everywhere in between. Clean air and water are a critical part of our quality of life and a source of our economic strength. As attorney general, I fought for families whose drinking water was poisoned by polluters. I have taken the companies that dumped GenX and other forever chemicals into the Cape Fear River to court, helped to negotiate the largest excavation of coal ash in the history of the United States – 80 million tons – and then won a $1.1-billion settlement to lower the power bills for millions of North Carolinians. As governor, I’ll continue to push for clean air and clean water. And I will continue to accelerate North Carolina’s transition to a clean energy economy that reduces carbon emissions and that creates good jobs in every corner of the state. Hurricane season reminds us that we must also invest in resilient infrastructure to better prepare for the impacts of climate change and natural disasters. 

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