Date Died: TBD

Place Buried: TBD

Occupation: Lawyer

Born in Washington, DC, Joshua Harold Stein moved to North Carolina with his family at an early age. He studied at Dartmouth College and earned his Juris Doctor degree from Harvard Law School before being elected to represent North Carolina's 16th Senate District (part of Wake County) in 2008:

-148th General Assembly
-149th General Assembly
-150th General Assembly
-151st General Assembly

In the Senate, Mr. Stein worked to expand the state's DNA database, ban cyberstalking, extend and expand the state's renewable energy tax credit, and improve school safety.

Mr. Stein left the State Senate upon winning the Democratic nomination in NC's 2016 Attorney General election and defeated Republican state senator Buck Newton by 0.54%, making him the first Jewish person to win a statewide election in North Carolina and the state's 51st Attorney General. He was re-elected in 2020 after narrowly defeating Republican Forsyth County district attorney Jim O'Neill by a margin of 0.26%.

Stein chose not to seek a third term as state attorney general and instead opted to run for governor in the 2024 North Carolina gubernatorial election. After winning the Democratic nomination, he defeated Republican nominee Mark Robinson in the general election by 14.8%.

He attended Chapel Hill High School and played on its state championship soccer team. After graduating from high school, Mr. Stein earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in History at Dartmouth College in 1988. After college, he taught English and economics in Zimbabwe. Mr. Stein then went on to earn degrees from Harvard Law School and the Kennedy School of Government.

In the 1990s, Mr. Stein interned for State Representative Daniel T. Blue, Jr. of Wake County. Out of law school, Stein worked for the Self-Help Credit Union and the North Carolina Minority Support Center.

In 2001, NC Attorney General Roy Cooper appointed Mr. Stein as Senior Deputy Attorney General for Consumer Protection. He held that position until his election to the State Senate in 2008. From 2012 until 2016, he served as Counsel at Smith Moore Leatherwood, LLP, a regional law firm.

Mr. Stein defeated Republican John Alexander to represent the 16th district in the North Carolina Senate in 2008. After being re-elected in 2010, he was elected minority whip by his colleagues.

As Attorney General, Mr. Stein worked to eliminate North Carolina's backlog of untested sexual assault kits, the largest in the nation. This led to new arrests in cases involving a 2015 assault and attempted murder in Durham; assaults in 2009 and 2010 in Fayetteville; and a 1993 assault in Winston-Salem.

The NC State Legislature voted to remove A.G. Stein as their legal representation before the courts on August 21, 2021, after he refused to appeal the findings of a lower court that a North Carolina state law that disenfranchised anyone convicted of a felony was unconstitutional. A.G. Stein cited he had been waiting for the ruling to be formally filed. Legislative leaders alleged A.G. Stein was "slow-walking" the case to allow felons to vote in the next election and used these claims to justify his immediate removal.

He and his family are members of Temple Beth Or, a Reform synagogue in Raleigh. He is a former YMCA basketball and soccer coach.

Next Governor - TBD