Source: N.C. Newsline
One of North Carolina’s most grotesque politicians, U.S. Rep. Dan Bishop (NC-08), an election-denying, anti-LGBTQ+, anti-reproductive rights, pro-insurrection right-wing Republican has announced that he won’t be seeking reelection to Congress and will instead run to be North Carolina’s next attorney general.
Bishop made the announcement during an appearance on Charlotte’s WBT radio on Aug. 3. He said after four years in Washington it’s clear to him that Congress is “stuck in status quo.”
The congressman said during his interview that he would use the attorney general’s office to further support prosecutors and frontline law enforcement officers.
“I think there’s an opportunity to use the influence of that office to restore law [and] order to our cities like Asheville in particular, Charlotte and some others and we have lots of problems that are frankly everywhere, but it’s especially problematic in urban areas,” said Bishop.
Despite what he may have said on the radio, Bishop’s actions and beliefs show that he’s more concerned with combatting fake “woke” policies and not actually doing anything to help his constituents or Americans.
This year, he sponsored the Combatting Racist Training in the Military Act to make sure that the Armed Forces don’t teach any Critical Race Theory (CRT) concepts. Bishop called CRT “a poisonous ideology” that “must be ripped out, root and branch, from our institutions.”
In July, along with Rep. Harriet Hageman (R-WY), he filed legislation that would allow Americans to sue “malicious” federal workers who “conspire” to censor social media posts.
Bishop also voted against the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 that provided billions of dollars in COVID stimulus money to the states and earlier this year, he voted against raising the debt limit – a bill that passed with bipartisan support.
In 2022, Bishop voted against legislation meant to prevent another Jan. 6, 2021, attack by closing 135-year-old loopholes in the Electoral Count Act. The legislation raises the threshold required for members of Congress to object to a state’s electoral votes and also clarifies that the vice president cannot refuse to certify presidential election results.
His vote was not terribly surprising considering that he tried to stop the certification of the 2020 election and is an election denier who thinks Donald Trump won. He voted against impeaching or convicting Trump for inciting an insurrection, which he called “the worst example of an insurrection in the history of mankind” during a House floor speech against creating a Jan. 6 commission.
Bishop also falsely accused election workers of misconduct, saying there were “indications of grossly improper conduct from election officials right here in my district.” PolitiFact rated Bishop’s statement as “False.”
When it comes to LGBTQ+ and women’s rights, Bishop is a fierce opponent.
Bishop’s dislike of the LGBTQ+ community has led him to the belief that they should not have the same rights as everyone else. He voted against the Respect for Marriage Act, which recognized same-sex marriage at the federal level. Perhaps Bishop’s biggest claim to fame is the fact that he’s known as the architect of North Carolina’s House Bill 2, also known as the “Bathroom Bill.” An Associated Press analysis of the backlash caused by HB2 found that it cost North Carolina nearly $4 billion in lost business. The bill has also left a stain on our state that is still impacting how people look at North Carolina almost seven and a half years later.
Back in 2019, Bishop made headlines for his stance on abortion while running in a special election to represent North Carolina’s 9th congressional district. He told The News & Observer that he supported Alabama’s then-new extreme anti-abortion law that banned abortion from the moment of conception and also forced impregnated victims of rape and incest to give birth to their attacker’s child.
“I think it’s wrong to have an abortion in the case of rape or incest, just as it would be wrong to take the life of a child born to incest,” Bishop told The News & Observer.
He is also opposed to guaranteeing access to contraception, including emergency contraceptives like Plan B. It’s a position that makes no sense seeing as how contraceptives can prevent unwanted pregnancies and thus prevent abortions, something he claims to care deeply about. It’s a position in direct opposition to nearly all Americans – 90% of Americans support legal access to birth control and/or condoms.
Bishop has the name recognition and the money to compete in 2024, and we already know what his priorities would be if he became the next attorney general.
