| Election Name: | 2020 North Carolina Attorney General election |
| Country: | North Carolina |
| Type: | presidential |
| Ongoing: | no |
| Previous Election: | 2016 North Carolina Attorney General election |
| Previous Year: | 2016 |
| Next Election: | 2024 North Carolina Attorney General election |
| Next Year: | 2024 |
| Election Date: | November 3, 2020 |
| Image1: | File:Josh Stein -18 - 53934613418 (2).jpg |
| Nominee1: | Josh Stein |
| Party1: | Democratic Party (United States) |
| Popular Vote1: | 2,713,400 |
| Percentage1: | 50.13% |
| Nominee2: | Jim O'Neill |
| Party2: | Republican Party (United States) |
| Popular Vote2: | 2,699,778 |
| Percentage2: | 49.87% |
| Map Size: | 325px |
| Attorney General | |
| Before Election: | Josh Stein |
| Before Party: | Democratic Party (United States) |
| After Election: | Josh Stein |
| After Party: | Democratic Party (United States) |
| Turnout: | 75.35% 6.37pp |
The 2020 North Carolina election for Attorney General was held on November 3, 2020, to elect the Attorney General of North Carolina, concurrently with the 2020 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.
Party primary elections were held on March 3, 2020.
Incumbent Democratic Attorney General Josh Stein, first elected in 2016, ran for re-election against Republican Forsyth County District Attorney Jim O'Neill.[1] With a narrow margin separating Stein and O'Neill (0.26%), the Associated Press was finally able to call Stein the winner on November 17, 2020, (two weeks after Election Day).[2] This also made this attorney general race the closest of the 2020 election cycle.
| Poll source | Date(s) administered | Sample size | Margin of error | Josh Stein (D) | Jim O'Neill (R) | Other | Undecided | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| East Carolina University | October 27–28, 2020 | 1,103 (LV) | ± 3.4% | 49% | 42% | 3% | 6% | |
| Meeting Street Insights (R) | October 24–27, 2020 | 600 (LV) | ± 4% | 49% | 44% | – | 4% | |
| East Carolina University | October 15–18, 2020 | 1,155 (LV) | ± 3.4% | 49% | 44% | 2% | 5% | |
| East Carolina University | October 2–4, 2020 | 1,232 (LV) | ± 3.2% | 43% | 46% | 2% | 9% | |
| Cardinal Point Analytics (R) | July 22–24, 2020 | 735 (LV) | ± 3.6% | 40% | 45% | – | 15% | |
| Cardinal Point Analytics (R) | July 13–15, 2020 | 547 (LV) | ± 4.2% | 43% | 43% | – | 14% |
Despite losing the state, O'Neill won 8 of 13 congressional districts.[8]
| District | Stein | O'Neill | Representative | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 56% | 44% | G. K. Butterfield | ||||
| 65% | 35% | George Holding | ||||
| Deborah K. Ross | ||||||
| 39% | 61% | Greg Murphy | ||||
| 67% | 33% | David Price | ||||
| 34% | 66% | Virginia Foxx | ||||
| 62% | 38% | Mark Walker | ||||
| Kathy Manning | ||||||
| 43% | 57% | David Rouzer | ||||
| 48% | 52% | |||||
| 46% | 54% | Dan Bishop | ||||
| 33% | 67% | Patrick McHenry | ||||
| 45% | 55% | Madison Cawthorn | ||||
| 70% | 30% | Alma Adams | ||||
| 34% | 66% | Ted Budd |