North Carolina Attorney General Josh Stein announced Wednesday he will run for governor in 2024.

Stein is the first Democrat to enter the race to succeed outgoing Gov. Roy Cooper, who is term-limited. He updated his joshstein.org campaign website, and his Twitter profile.

In a three-minute video clip posted on Twitter, Stein promised to "fight for our future."

"As your AG, I have taken on big fights for you and won, time after time," he said. "That’s what I’ll do as your next Governor. Together, we can build a better and brighter North Carolina.”

Critics argue Stein eschews his role as the state's top prosecutor – and constitutional defender – by placing politics ahead of enforcing the laws created in the General Assembly.

Stein, Ivy League educated at Dartmouth and Harvard, won election to the state Senate in 2008.

He resigned the post in March 2016, successfully campaigning and winning election as the attorney general.

Stein in 2020 defeated Republican Jim O’Neill by 13,622 votes out of more than 5.4 million cast. His campaign war chest, per Ballotpedia, was more than $11 million. In 2016, Stein triumphed over Republican Buck Newton by 20,232 votes out of more than 4.5 million cast.

Stein’s most recent accomplishments noted on his website are “Secured more than $50 billion nationally to bring much-needed opioid addiction treatment and recovery services to people across North Carolina,” the tackling of untested rape kits, and “Defended women’s access to reproductive health care, children’s right to a sound public education, and people’s access to health care under the Affordable Care Act.”