James Eugene "Jim" Long (March 19, 1940 – February 2, 2009) was the North Carolina Commissioner of Insurance from 1985 through 2009, retiring as the senior Democratic member of the North Carolina Council of State. He was the third-longest-serving statewide elected official in North Carolina history as of 2009.
Born in Alamance County to a political family, Long served in the North Carolina House of Representatives (1971-1975), as had his father a...
more
James Eugene "Jim" Long (March 19, 1940 – February 2, 2009) was the North Carolina Commissioner of Insurance from 1985 through 2009, retiring as the senior Democratic member of the North Carolina Council of State. He was the third-longest-serving statewide elected official in North Carolina history as of 2009.
Born in Alamance County to a political family, Long served in the North Carolina House of Representatives (1971-1975), as had his father and grandfather. He also worked as legal counsel to the state house speaker and as Chief Deputy Commissioner of the North Carolina Department of Insurance from 1975-76. Commissioner John R. Ingram fired Long as his deputy in 1976, and Long then ran unsuccessfully against his former boss in 1980.
Long became the state's insurance commissioner in January 1985 (having been elected in November 1984). He won a sixth term in the 2004 statewide elections. In 2008, he chose not to run for a seventh term. Long endorsed Wayne Goodwin to succeed him as...
less
