RALEIGH, N.C. — Today the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) PAC, the nation’s largest lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ+) civil rights organization, announced its endorsement of Attorney General Josh Stein for Governor of North Carolina and U.S. Rep. Jeff Jackson for Attorney General. Stein is running against Republican gubernatorial nominee Mark Robinson, the current lieutenant governor, who has been brazen and fanatical in expressing his desire to use the levers of government to remove LGBTQ+ people from all parts of public life. Jackson, meanwhile, is running against Republican AG nominee Dan Bishop, the architect of the notorious HB2 that passed in 2016, which launched the discriminatory wave of bathroom bills that in many states now force transgender people into the wrong bathrooms, putting them directly at risk of abuse and physical harm.

HRC PAC is committed to engaging its volunteers, members and supporters to mobilize the more than 2.9 million Equality Voters in North Carolina in support of Stein and Jackson and other pro-equality candidates up and down the ballot.

The Race For Governor

“It’s this simple: Josh Stein will be a governor for all North Carolinians, while Mark Robinson said ‘some folks need killing’ when talking about his political enemies,” said Human Rights Campaign President Kelley Robinson. “Josh Stein has fought for LGBTQ+ equality, safer communities, stronger schools, healthier families, and personal freedom while Mark Robinson calls LGBTQ+ people ‘filth’ and wants transgender people arrested just for using a bathroom. North Carolina can’t risk having a MAGA acolyte like Robinson with no appetite for governing, who traffics in Holocaust denial and violent rhetoric, the embodiment of Project 2025, sitting in the governor’s office. We at the Human Rights Campaign are excited to endorse a true public servant in Josh Stein and help him send Mark Robinson back into obscurity.”

“We want North Carolina to be welcoming to all people because everyone should be able to live their life free of discrimination and we all succeed when we tap the potential of every North Carolinian. As Governor, I will continue to fight discrimination and hate against the LGBTQ+ community,” said Josh Stein. “My opponent spews hate about our neighbors, and it’s ugly. Y’all means all – and I am proud the Human Rights Campaign is joining this historic fight for North Carolina’s future.”

Josh Stein is the current attorney general of North Carolina and has a track record as a strong ally to the LGBTQ+ community. In 2019, he spoke out strongly against a Trump administration proposal to strip away health care protections for sexual orientation and gender identity in federal grant regulations, saying, “Eliminating these protections puts LGBTQ individuals – especially children – at greater risk for suffering discrimination and for receiving inadequate care.” He’s also a supporter of the Equality Act, federal legislation that would enshrine nondiscrimination protections for LGBTQ+ people in law nationally.

The Race for Attorney General

“As Attorney General, Jeff Jackson will build on his successful record of fighting shameful and discriminatory policies like HB2,” Robinson said. “His opponent, Dan Bishop, sought to make transgender North Carolinians unwelcome in their own state, and the battle over HB2 cost his state literally billions of dollars of economic activity. Jeff Jackson, meanwhile, was one of the leading voices in the legislature against HB2, opposing its passage and calling for its full repeal. North Carolina needs an Attorney General who will serve everyone in the state, and Jeff Jackson is the clear choice for this job.”

U.S. Rep. Jeff Jackson has been a longtime champion of LGBTQ+ rights. As a state lawmaker, he opposed the discriminatory HB2 in 2016 and introduced legislation to push for its full repeal in 2017. He has spoken about protecting the LGBTQ+ community in interviews, saying “we want you to be full participants and you deserve to be and I know some other people have treated you poorly, but that’s not the way we’re going to do things going forward.”

Opponents With Appalling Anti-LGBTQ+ Track Records

Stein’s radical anti-LGBTQ+ opponent, Mark Robinson, rose to fame as a MAGA acolyte of Donald Trump and has made headline after headline with his outlandish rhetoric, disconnected from reality, as he has repeatedly attacked the LGBTQ+ community and other groups. He referred to LGBTQ+ people as “filth,” called for banning abortion in all instances, and said transgender women should be arrested if they try to use the correct bathroom. He has also denied the Holocaust, said he wanted “to go back to the America where women couldn’t vote,” and said “some folks need killing” in reference to his political opponents.

Jackson’s opponent, Dan Bishop, is also currently a U.S. Representative; he was a member of the North Carolina House of Representatives when he introduced the notorious HB 2, which passed in 2016 and made it illegal for transgender people in the state to use school and government building bathrooms that align with their gender identity. The public outcry against HB 2 saw billions of dollars of economic activity move out of the state before the law was partly repealed; Bishop meanwhile compared the LGBTQ+ community to the Taliban.

“Josh Stein is going to make a great governor for North Carolina, and Jeff Jackson will be a terrific attorney general — and thank goodness for that, because the other party’s candidates are promising to deliver a cavalcade of horrors for the LGBTQ+ community and many others,” said Molly Whitehorn, Human Rights Campaign Associate Regional Campaign Director. “Mark Robinson and Dan Bishop have stated in clear terms that they oppose the rights of members of the LGBTQ+ community to even exist in North Carolina, and we can’t afford to risk finding out what sort of devastating policies may emanate from their hateful rhetoric. We know that North Carolinians believe in equality and are ready to show up to elect Josh Stein and Jeff Jackson.”

HRC’s Commitment to North Carolina

Equality Voters, including the more than 2.9 million in North Carolina, are a voting bloc of demographically and geographically diverse Americans who are united by the advancement of LGBTQ+ equality. Equality Voters are younger, more racially diverse, and more female than the general electorate, they recognize and trust the HRC brand, and they are more likely to identify with issue-specific organizations than candidates or political parties. With this endorsement, HRC PAC will work to engage and mobilize Equality Voters in support of Stein and Jackson.