WCDP Election Central – Candidate Information
Jeff Jackson
NC Attorney General
Candidate Statement:
I am a dad, husband, soldier and US Congressman. I am in my 20th year of military service, having enlisted after the attacks of September 11th, trained at Ft. Bragg, and served in Afghanistan. I continue to serve today as a Major in the Army National Guard. After deploying to Afghanistan in support of Operation Enduring Freedom, I attended law school at UNC-Chapel Hill with help from the G.I. bill, before serving as an assistant district attorney in Gaston County. I spent eight years in the NC General Assembly as a State Senator, representing Mecklenburg County. I’ve dedicated my life to public service, and brought my record of service and transparency to Congress.
I am working to raise your expectations for political leadership. We have politicians who refuse to stand up for us and who have turned a blind eye to several clear challenges we face. The results have been devastating, especially for working people and working families. That ends now. We’re organizing across our state to hear directly from you as we build a North Carolina agenda.
Importance of this Race:
The NC Attorney General’s office works every day to help keep people safe, support law enforcement, and protect consumers and families. The choice we face in November is between a man with a history of extremist views, including being the author of NC’s infamous “bathroom bill,” and Jeff Jackson, an experienced prosecutor and longtime member of the National Guard, who understands the basic principles of honesty and decency, and has built a reputation for being transparent and accessible.
Office Responsibilities:
- The NC Attorney General represents all state government departments, agencies and commissions in legal matters.
- Provides legal opinions to the General Assembly, the Governor, and any public official when requested.
- Works to protect North Carolinians from scams and frauds. through its Consumer Protection Division.
- May intervene in proceedings before any courts or agencies, either state or federal, on behalf of the State.
- May institute court proceeding on behalf of the State, its agencies or its citizens in any and all public interest matters.
- Handles all critical appeals from state trial courts.
Issues:
Racial justice:
From health care to education to housing to criminal justice – we have to address the systemic issues that continue to lead to disparate outcomes for Black communities and other communities of color, so that we have a justice system, and state resources, that work for the benefit of all of us, no matter who we are or where we come from. Jeff has been and will continue to be a strong advocate who takes an active role in working for racial and social justice.
Poverty:
In North Carolina, over 1.4 million people live in poverty, including one out of every five children. Children of color are much more likely to face this – making up 45% of all children in our state, but 65% of NC’s kids in poverty. And there are hundreds of thousands more children living in low-income homes just above the poverty level. We must do better for all our children.
There is no single policy that can solve this. But we have the tools to improve the lives of hundreds of thousands of people and children across the state. Housing, wages and opportunity, education, healthcare, and criminal justice all play enormous roles in economic mobility and lifting families and children out of poverty. Policy has to be designed to address the underlying racial inequalities, so that we all receive the benefits and protections.
Equal Rights Amendment (ERA):
Jackson has repeatedly sponsored the Equal Rights Amendment, as well as legislation to remove excessive, partisan barriers to safe abortion. One of Jeff’s first experiences in the North Carolina legislature was when several non-partisan bills he sponsored, which would have closed gaps in sex offense statutes, were added to an anti-abortion bill. Jeff stood firm against those attacks, voting against the bill and his own legislation. He has and will continue to stand up against the politicization of women’s health and abortion access that we’re seeing across the country.