James Daniel Bishop is an Americanattorney and politician serving as the U.S. Representative for since 2019. He also served in the North Carolina State Senate from 2017-2019. A Republican, his district includes south-central Mecklenburg, Union, Anson, Richmond, Scotland, Robeson, Bladen, and Cumberland counties. He previously served in the North Carolina House of Representatives from 2015 to 2017, and the Mecklenburg County Commission from 2005 to 2009. Bishop was the lead author of North Carolina's so-called "bathroom bill" which prohibited transgender individuals from using public restrooms other than those by their biological sex as defined on their birth certificates. Bishop won the 2019 special election to the U.S. House of Representatives with 50.7% of the vote to Dan McCready's 48.7% on September 10, 2019. He took office on September 17, 2019.
Bishop was a member of the Mecklenburg County Commission from 2004 to 2008. After a six-year absence from politics, he was elected to the North Carolina House of Representatives from a south Charlotte seat for a single term, running against a Libertarian opponent, Eric Cable, but without a Democratic one. Bishop's district was House District 104. He succeeded Ruth Samuelson, who retired from the House.
Bishop won his North Carolina State Senate District 39 seat in November 2016 to succeed Bob Rucho who was not seeking re-election. He received 58,739 votes, defeating Democrat Lloyd Scher, who received 44,655. During the 2017-2018 legislative session, Bishop was the co-chairman of the Select Committee on Judicial Reform and Redistricting, the vice-chairman of the Select Committee on Elections, and a member of several additional committees. In the state Senate, Bishop was one of the primary sponsors of legislation in 2017 that would prevent persons living near North Carolina factory farms from recovering meaningful damages in civil actions against agribusinesses found responsible for harming them. This legislation was supported by big industry lobbyists and opposed by consumer protection agencies and environmental groups, such as the League of Conservation Voters. In 2017, the American Conservative Union gave him a lifetime rating of 87%. Bishop has attracted attention for statements attacking journalists, which have been likened to statements by Donald Trump. On one occasion, Bishop criticized the Raleigh press corps over coverage of the state budget, calling reporters the "jihad media."
Bishop was the architect of the Public Facilities Privacy & Security Act, or House Bill2. This controversial "bathroom bill" legislation restricted transgender individuals from using gender-segregated public facilities, other than those identified for use by their biological sex as defined on their birth certificates. The bill, signed into law by Republican Governor Pat McCrory, also invalidated a local nondiscrimination law passed by the Charlotte City Council and prohibited any local government in North Carolina from enacting new protections for gay, lesbian, or transgender individuals. Bishop used his sponsorship of HB2 in fundraising emails, stating that he stood up to the "radical transgender agenda." Bishop's role in promoting HB2 raised the profile of the freshman state senator. In 2017, after a public backlash against the legislation and economic harms of $3.7 billion, HB2 was repealed and replaced with new compromise legislation brokered between Democratic Governor Roy Cooper and the Republican leadership of the state legislature. Bishop was the sole senator to make a floor speech against HB2's revocation, calling it a "betrayal of principle." In emails from Bishop subsequently made public under North Carolina's public-records law, Bishop compared LGBT rights activists to the Taliban. Following release of a video showing a group of people following former Governor Pat McCrory, shouting "shame", and calling McCrory a bigot, Bishop said he would introduce legislation "to make it a crime to threaten, intimidate, or retaliate against a present or former North Carolina official in the course of, or on account of, the performance of his or her duties."
In August 2017, Bishop contributed $500 toward the establishment of the social network Gab, a website criticized for allegedly allowing white supremacist content. Bishop said he decided to make the contribution in response to what he called a California "tech giants' Big Brother routine", referring to companies such as PayPal and Facebook canceling accounts used by organizers and funders of the Unite the Right rally, in Charlottesville, Virginia. Bishop's crowdfunding contribution attracted attention the following year, after the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting. Bishop responded that he was being "smeared," saying "I don't use Gab, but if its management allows its users to promote violence, anti-Semitism, and racism on the platform they have misled investors and they will be gone quickly, and rightfully so." The contribution came up again during the 2019 election season, one week following the 2019 El Paso shooting and a month before the election. A group called Stand Up Republic aired criticism of Bishop's contribution towards Gab.ai as part of a $500,000 dollar advertising campaign. Bishop criticized the advertising, arguing that it was "defamatory."
