No one in or outside North Carolina can predict who will win or even run for the 8th District that was suddenly left open after Republican Rep. Dan Bishop made his surprise announcement Thursday that he would run for state attorney general next year.
That's because, like all of the Tarheel State's 14 U.S. Districts, the 8th is in limbo. All of the districts will be redrawn in the fall after the state legislature — firmly in Republican hands — reconvenes.
Observers in both parties have speculated that the GOP could win as many as ten out of the 14 seats once a new map is drawn. But no one can say for sure what they will look like.
The 8th, which Bishop first won in a close 2019 special election, stretches through eight suburban and rural counties.
Bishop is a strong favorite among the populist right and within hours of his announcement, was endorsed by the conservative Club For Growth.
He gained swatches of publicity in January as part of the handful of Republican lawmakers who held back from electing Rep. Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., speaker of the House for several ballots until concessions were made.
A member of the House Freedom Caucus, Bishop has also been critical of the debt ceiling agreement between McCarthy and President Joe Biden because he felt its spending cuts were not large enough.
In an address that hushed the audience last December at the 20th-anniversary gala of The American Conservative magazine, the North Carolinian spelled out his unabashed views on spending and his party's leadership, how it tried to force a bill to codify same-sex marriage among reluctant Republican lawmakers, and said: "We should try a little courage in Congress."
"[Bishop] reminds me of Walter Judd — not flashy, but plainspoken, and you know he means what he says," one of the gala guests, former Texas GOP Chair Tom Pauken, told Newsmax after Bishop's remarks. (Judd was a physician who served as a Republican House member from Minnesota from 1942-62 and was loved by conservatives for his straight-from-the-shoulder, anti-communist speeches).
In announcing bid for attorney general, Bishop is seeking an office that has not been in Republican hands since the late 19th Century. With Democrat incumbent Josh Stein running for governor, two veterans who served in the respective Judge Advocate Corps of their services are vying for the Democratic nomination — Tim Dunn (Marine Corps) and Charles Ingram (Navy). Bishop will face a primary with former State Rep. Tom Murry.
Longtime North Carolina conservative activist Marc Rotterman spoke for many on the right when he told Newsmax: "Congressman Dan Bishop is one of the most principled conservatives in politics today. He's smart, well versed, he does his homework, and he is always armed with facts."
John Gizzi is chief political columnist and White House correspondent for Newsmax. For more of his reports, Go Here Now.
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