Taking a seat with Josh Stein

In the fall of 1984, Josh Stein was a senior preparing for graduating from Chapel Hill. Now, he is a North Carolina State Senator running for Attorney General.

When asked about his time at Chapel Hill, Stein reminisced.

“I’m a proud Tiger," he said. "I loved my time at Chapel Hill. I have a lot of positive memories.”

He continued to share one of his favorite memories as a tiger soccer player.

“My soccer team won the State Championship senior year so that’s a happy memory,” Stein said.

Senator Stein’s passion for politics came from his family.

“I attribute it to my parents. My parents are very politically and professionally engaged, and raised my brother, sister and me to understand that we have an important role to play in making our society the best that it can be,” Stein said.

This influence was a natural path to public service and entering politics.

“I always wanted to do something where I felt like I was adding value to society, in some ways helping people improve their own lives,” Stein said.

Senator Stein described times in high school when he successfully organized things like voter registration drives, but also some failed attempts like a graduation gown drive.

“Not every initiative you undertake is going to work but you keep pushing and trying and find ways to make a difference,” Stein said.

Working at the Attorney General’s office in the 2000’s also helped to inspire Senator Stein to push further in his political career.

“I saw how you could make a difference if you were prepared, smart and compassionate about what you cared about so I think that planted the seed in order for me to run,” Stein said.

Currently in his fourth term the North Carolina State Senator for District 16 - Wake County and a Democrat, Stein has accomplished a great deal, including the ‘Extension and Expansion of the Renewable Tax Credit,’ which helped bring North Carolina to number four in the country in solar energy, as well as a law that came up with regulations to stop the pollution of Raleigh’s water source. He also lead efforts in getting criminals off the street by expanding the use of the DNA database.

In his time as a state senator, the democrats have gone from the majority to the minority party in the legislature and it has been increasingly difficult for there to be issues that the two sides can agree upon. The senate is not the easiest place to work these days, especially when many lawmakers disagree widely on the direction of the state in regard to issues like education, immigration, the state budget and the environment—to name a few.

I asked Senator Stein how he handles the challenging circumstances of finding a way to work together with those lawmakers who have an opposing views on so many issues.

“Well, it’s frustrating, because there’s a lot of dialogue but not a lot of engagement by the majority with the minority to see if there are ways to improve policies so that they have better effects and better impact on people,” Stein said. “What I do is go to work and prepare as best as I can every day and argue for the values that I have and hope that I’m able to convince the majority to modify their policies or reject the policy depending on what the issue is, and if I can’t convince the Senate I try to convince the House through the perspective of my argument.”

With the 2016 election, Senator Stein has announced his candidacy for the position of North Carolina Attorney General.

As the top lawyer and law enforcement officer for the state, the Attorney General oversees the state’s Department of Justice. I asked him why he decided to run for this important position of leadership for the state.

“Well I’ve been in the senate for a while now, I’m in my fourth term, and I worked at the Attorney General’s office for 8 years as Senior Deputy Attorney General for Consumer Protection and in that position I took on predatory lenders, identity thieves, telemarketing scammers and sexual predators who used social networks to prey on kids. I know that the office can make a meaningful difference in people’s lives and with Attorney General Cooper, my old boss, running for Governor, I thought it would be a good opportunity for me to put my experience and my independence to work for the people as Attorney General.”

Additionally, Senator Stein discussed ways he hopes in the job of Attorney General he can make a difference.

“I think it’s important we have an Attorney General who keep families safe. That is a top priority for me by cracking down on violent crime and reducing repeat crime through effective re-entry program,” Stein said. “I want to protect seniors and consumers from scammers and corporations who break the law, and I want to protect the taxpayer by stamping out medicaid fraud.”

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