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.
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   Stein: 50–60% 60–70% 70–80% 80–90% >90% Newton: 50–60% 60–70% 70–80% 80–90% >90% | |||||||||||||||||
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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
- Josh Stein, former state senator and former deputy attorney general of North Carolina[4]
- Marcus Williams, attorney, candidate for U.S. Senate in 2008 and 2010, candidate for NC-08 in 2012, and candidate for state senate in 2014[5]
Declined
- Roy Cooper, incumbent Attorney General (ran for Governor)[1]
- Tim Dunn, attorney and perennial candidate[3][6]
Results
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | Josh Stein | 510,003 | 53.37 | |
| Democratic | Marcus Williams | 445,524 | 46.63 | |
| Total votes | 955,527 | 100.0 | ||
Republican primary
Candidates
Declared
- Buck Newton, state senator[8][9]
- Jim O'Neill, Forsyth County District Attorney[10][11]
Declined
- George Rouco, attorney and former CIA officer (ran for NC-09)[12]
Results
| 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
[14]| 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 | |||||