Annual Visit With The Governor of North Carolina
North Carolina People

Easley’s inauguration as Governor followed nearly two decades of public service spent fighting crime, protecting children and the elderly, and standing up for working families. In 1982, he was elected district attorney for the 13th judicial district in Brunswick, Bladen and Columbus counties. One of the state’s youngest district attorneys ever, he was named among USA Today’s top “drug busters.” He was elected as North Carolina’s attorney general in 1992 and reelected to a second term in 1996. As attorney general, he worked to remove the state’s prison cap and helped create an environmental crimes task force and a citizens’ rights division to combat hate crimes, child abuse and elder abuse. He spearheaded efforts to reach the historic national tobacco settlement and expanded the Child Victims Assistance Project statewide, a program he began in the southeast when he served as district attorney.

Born in Nash County, North Carolina in 1950, Easley was raised on a tobacco farm the second of seven children. Easley received his B.A. in Political Science from the University of North Carolina in 1972 with honors. In 1975, he earned his law degree from North Carolina Central University School of Law, where his wife Mary now serves as a professor of law. He graduated cum laude from law school and also served as Managing Editor of the Law Review. He and his wife Mary have one child, Michael, Jr.