JS
Josh Stein
DemocratGovernor of North Carolina| Age | 59 (b. 1966-09-13) |
| Gender | Male |
| In office since | 2025-01-01 (~1 yrs) |
| Race / ethnicity | White (Jewish American) |
| Religion | Jewish (Reform Judaism); member of Temple Beth Or, Raleigh |
| Education | Chapel Hill High School; B.A. in History, Dartmouth College (1988); J.D. and Master of Public Policy, Harvard University (Harvard Law School and Harvard Kennedy School) |
| Prior occupation | Lawyer; taught high school English and economics in Zimbabwe for two years after college; worked on affordable housing/community development lending; Senior Deputy Attorney General for Consumer Protection at the NC Department of Justice (2001-2008); of counsel at Smith Moore Leatherwood LLP (2012-2016); earlier deputy chief of staff to U.S. Senator John Edwards |
| Military service | No |
| Birthplace | Washington, D.C. |
| Marital status | married — Anna Harris Stein |
| Children | 3 |
| Residence | Raleigh, North Carolina |
| Notable relatives | Father Adam Stein, prominent civil rights attorney who partnered with Julius Chambers and James Ferguson at North Carolina's first racially integrated law firm (Chambers, Stein, Ferguson & Becton); the firm litigated Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education. Mother Jane Stein, liberal activist. |
Pending research: languages · openly lgbtq.
Career & politics
| First elected | 2008 |
| Previous offices | North Carolina State Senator, 16th District (2009-2016) · Attorney General of North Carolina, 51st (2017-2025) |
| Leadership | North Carolina Senate Minority Whip (as state senator) · Governor of North Carolina (76th, 2025-present) |
| Ideology | Democrat; throughout his career aligned with mainstream/progressive Democratic positions (supported the Affordable Care Act, abortion access, clean energy). No DW-NOMINATE score (state/executive official, not member of Congress). |
| Signature legislation | As Attorney General: cleared North Carolina's backlog of untested sexual assault (rape) kits · As Attorney General: led/helped negotiate national opioid settlements (NC's share ~$1.5 billion) · As Attorney General: first state AG to sue e-cigarette maker Juul (2019), winning settlements · As Attorney General: negotiated the multistate Anti-Robocall Principles |
Financial
No holdings recorded yet (from official Financial Disclosure filings).
Scandals & crimes ledger
resolved - no charges filed / case closed — Wake County grand jury presentment over 2020 campaign ad (criminal libel statute); no charges filed
Stein's 2020 campaign ad (titled 'Survivor') stated that his opponent, Forsyth County DA Jim O'Neill, 'left 1,500 rape kits on a shelf, leaving rapists on the streets.' O'Neill filed a complaint alleging the ad violated a rarely used 1931 criminal libel law barring knowingly false statements about candidates. After an SBI investigation, a Wake County grand jury issued a presentment in August 2022 recommending possible indictment of Stein and two campaign aides. Stein challenged the statute as unconstitutional. The Fourth Circuit blocked enforcement and held the law was likely unconstitutional; the district attorney then closed the case. No one was ever indicted or charged. This is included because a grand jury (an official body) took formal action (a presentment) and a federal appeals court formally adjudicated the matter, though it ended without charges.