Joshua Harold Stein (born September 13, 1966)^[1] is an American politician and lawyer serving as the 76th governor of North Carolina since 2025. A member of the Democratic Party, Stein served as the 51st attorney general of North Carolina from 2017 to 2025 and in the North Carolina Senate from 2009 to 2016.

Born in Washington, D.C., Stein moved to North Carolina with his family at an early age. He studied at Dartmouth College and earned his Juris Doctor degree from Harvard Law School before being elected to represent North Carolina’s 16th Senate district in 2008. Stein left the State Senate upon winning the Democratic nomination in the 2016 North Carolina Attorney General election, in which he defeated Republican nominee Buck Newton by 0.54%.^[2][3] He was reelected in 2020, narrowly defeating Republican nominee Jim O’Neill by 0.26%.^[4]

Stein chose not to seek a third term as state attorney general and instead ran for governor in the 2024 election.^[5] After winning the Democratic nomination, he defeated Republican nominee Mark Robinson in the general election by 14.82%. He is North Carolina’s first Jewish governor.^[6]

Stein was born on September 13, 1966, in Washington, D.C., the son of Jane (Stoneman) and Adam Stein, of Jewish descent.^[7] His family moved to Charlotte, North Carolina, before settling in Chapel Hill, where his father co-founded North Carolina’s first integrated law firm.^[8][9]

Stein attended Chapel Hill High School and played on its state championship soccer team.^[10][11] After graduating, he earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in history from Dartmouth College in 1988.^[12] After college, he taught English and economics in Zimbabwe.^[13] Stein went on to earn degrees from Harvard Law School and the Kennedy School of Government.

In the 1990s, Stein worked as an intern for State Representative Dan Blue. Out of law school, Stein worked for the Self-Help Credit Union and the North Carolina Minority Support Center.^[14] After managing John Edwards‘s 1998 U.S. Senate campaign,^[15] he served as Edwards’s deputy chief of staff from January 1999 to December 2000.^[16] According to Edwards official Andrew Young, Elizabeth Edwards prevented her husband from naming Stein his chief of staff in the Senate because he withheld information from her at John’s direction.^[17]

In 2001, North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper appointed Stein as Senior Deputy Attorney General for Consumer Protection.^[10] He held that position until his election to the State Senate in 2008.^[18][14] From 2012 until 2016, he served as of counsel at Smith Moore Leatherwood LLP, a regional law firm.

Stein defeated Republican John Alexander to represent the 16th district in the North Carolina Senate in 2008.^[19] After being reelected in 2010, he was elected minority whip by his colleagues.^[20]

In the Senate, Stein worked to expand the state’s DNA database, ban cyberstalking, extend and expand the state’s renewable energy tax credit, and improve school safety.^[21][22][23]

In 2016, Stein became the first Jewish person to win a statewide election in North Carolina. As attorney general, he worked to eliminate North Carolina’s backlog of untested sexual assault kits, the nation’s largest.^[24][25][26] This led to arrests in cases involving a 2015 assault and attempted murder in Durham, North Carolina;^[27] assaults in 2009 and 2010 in Fayetteville;^[28] and a 1993 assault in Winston-Salem.^[29]

Stein led the bipartisan effort of state attorneys general to negotiate a national settlement framework with drug companies—manufacturers, distributors, and pharmacy chains—over the nation’s opioid epidemic, totaling more than $50 billion.^[30] North Carolina’s share of the settlement was $1.5 billion.^[31] Stein negotiated a memorandum of agreement with the state’s counties that ensured the vast majority of the funds would go to prevention, harm reduction, treatment or recovery.^[32] Johns Hopkins School of Public Health recognized this partnership as one of the best in the nation.^[33]

In 2018, Stein filed a brief with the United States Supreme Court arguing in favor of the Affordable Care Act.^[34] In 2019, he became the country’s first attorney general to sue e-cigarette manufacturer Juul for unlawful marketing to minors.^[35] Stein won multiple settlements with Juul totaling nearly $48 million, setting a standard the rest of the nation followed.^[36][37]

Stein filed briefs supporting medication abortions and opposing restrictions on women from traveling to receive healthcare.^[38][39] He opposed the state’s 12-week abortion ban enacted in 2023.^[40]

Stein negotiated eight Anti-Robocall Principles with a bipartisan coalition of 51 attorneys general and 12 companies to protect phone users from illegal robocalls.^[41] He also launched Operation Silver Shield, an effort to protect older North Carolinians from fraud and scams.^{[citation needed]}

After the COVID-19 pandemic began, Stein won a preliminary injunction against a Charlotte tow company sued for price-gouging^[42] and announced the investigation of nine North Carolina–based sellers on Amazon accused of raising prices on coronavirus-related products, including hand sanitizer and N95 masks.^[43] Stein won more than $1 million in price-gouging cases.^[44]

On August 21, 2021, the legislature voted to remove Stein as its legal representation before the courts after he refused to appeal the findings of a lower court that a North Carolina state law that disenfranchised anyone convicted of a felony was unconstitutional. Stein said he had been waiting for the ruling to be formally filed. Legislative leaders alleged Stein was “slow-walking” the case to allow felons to vote in the next election.^{[45][46][better source needed]}