2024 North Carolina judicial elections
| Elections in North Carolina |
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One justice of the seven-member North Carolina Supreme Court and three judges of the fifteen-member North Carolina Court of Appeals were elected by North Carolina voters on November 5, 2024, concurrently with other state elections. Terms for seats on each court are eight years. These elections were conducted on a partisan basis.
The ultimate result was that Republicans won three of the four elections (all for the Court of Appeals), while a Democrat won the Supreme Court race.
Primary elections (for seats with more than one candidate from a political party) were held on March 5, 2024.
Supreme Court Seat 6
This seat was held by Associate Justice Allison Riggs, a Democrat. Governor Roy Cooper appointed her to the seat following the early retirement of Michael R. Morgan, also a Democrat. The final results of the election showed Riggs ahead of Republican challenger Jefferson Griffin by fewer than 800 votes, but legal challenges prevented their certification for months after. State courts, under a legal challenge by Griffin, had ordered the reexamination of thousands of voters' eligibilities, but a federal court later ordered the certification of the results as they stood. Griffin finally conceded the race on May 7, 2025.[1]
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1 of 7 seat of the Supreme Court of North Carolina | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Results
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | Allison Riggs (incumbent) | 2,770,412 | 50.01% | |
| Republican | Jefferson Griffin | 2,769,678 | 49.99% | |
| Total votes | 5,540,090 | 100.00 | ||
| Democratic hold | ||||
Court of Appeals Seat 12 (Thompson seat)
The incumbent was Carolyn Thompson, a Democrat. Governor Roy Cooper appointed her to fill the vacancy caused when he elevated Judge Allison Riggs (also a Democrat) to the Supreme Court.[3][4] Thompson ran for a full term,[5] but was defeated by former state representative Tom Murry.[6]
Democratic primary
Candidates
- Carolyn Thompson, incumbent and 2022 candidate[7]
Republican primary
Candidates
General election
Debates
| No. | Date | Host | Moderator | Link | Democratic | Republican |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Key: P Participant A Absent N Not invited I Invited W Withdrawn |
||||||
| Thompson | Murry | |||||
| 1 | June 28, 2024 | North Carolina Bar Association | Tim Boyum | YouTube | P | P |
Polling
| Poll source | Date(s) administered |
Sample size[a] |
Margin of error |
Carolyn Thompson |
Tom Murry |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ActiVote[8] | October 8–26, 2024 | 400 (LV) | ± 4.9% | 48% | 52% |
| ActiVote[9] | August 20 – September 22, 2024 | 400 (LV) | ± 4.9% | 49% | 51% |
Endorsements
Organizations
- National Federation of Independent Business North Carolina PAC[10]
Results
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republican | Tom Murry | 2,809,458 | 50.89 | ||
| Democratic | Carolyn Thompson (incumbent) | 2,710,863 | 49.11 | ||
| Total votes | 5,520,321 | 100.00 | |||
| Republican gain from Democratic | |||||
Court of Appeals Seat 14 (Zachary seat)
The incumbent was Judge Valerie Zachary, a Republican.
Democratic primary
Candidates
Republican primary
Candidates
- Valerie Zachary, incumbent
General election
Polling
| Poll source | Date(s) administered |
Sample size[a] |
Margin of error |
Valerie Zachary |
Ed Eldred |
Undecided |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ActiVote[8] | October 8–26, 2024 | 400 (LV) | ± 4.9% | 52% | 48% | – |
| ActiVote[9] | August 20 – September 22, 2024 | 400 (LV) | ± 4.9% | 53% | 47% | – |
Endorsements
Organizations
- National Federation of Independent Business North Carolina PAC[10]
Results
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republican | Valerie Zachary (incumbent) | 2,879,049 | 52.28 | |
| Democratic | Ed Eldred | 2,628,453 | 47.72 | |
| Total votes | 5,507,502 | 100.00 | ||
| Republican hold | ||||
Court of Appeals Seat 15 (Murphy seat)
The incumbent was Republican Hunter Murphy, who lost to Chris Freeman in the primary. Freeman then went on to win the general election, defeating Democrat Martin Moore.
Democratic primary
Candidates
- Martin E. Moore, attorney and Buncome County commissioner[7][12]
Republican primary
Candidates
Results
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republican | Chris Freeman | 532,794 | 62.64 | |
| Republican | Hunter Murphy (incumbent) | 317,807 | 37.36 | |
| Total votes | 850,601 | 100.00 | ||
General election
Polling
| Poll source | Date(s) administered |
Sample size[a] |
Margin of error |
Chris Freeman |
Martin Moore |
Undecided |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ActiVote[8] | October 8–26, 2024 | 400 (LV) | ± 4.9% | 53% | 47% | – |
| ActiVote[9] | August 20 – September 22, 2024 | 400 (LV) | ± 4.9% | 52% | 48% | – |
Endorsements
Organizations
- National Federation of Independent Business North Carolina PAC[10]
Results
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republican | Chris Freeman | 2,844,286 | 51.72 | |
| Democratic | Martin E. Moore | 2,654,765 | 48.28 | |
| Total votes | 5,499,051 | 100.00 | ||
| Republican hold | ||||
See also
Notes
References
- ^ WRAL.com: Republican concedes long-unsettled North Carolina court election to Democratic incumbent
- ^ "2024 November General Election Recount" (PDF). Retrieved December 18, 2024.
- ^ Anderson, Bryan (December 15, 2022). "Cooper selects voting access advocate Allison Riggs to fill appeals court seat". WRAL-TV. Retrieved October 16, 2024.
- ^ "Governor Cooper Announces Two Judicial Appointments". Governor of North Carolina. September 11, 2023. Retrieved October 16, 2024.
- ^ Duneja, Annika (September 19, 2023). "Judge Carolyn Thompson appointed to N.C. Court of Appeals". The Daily Tar Heel. Retrieved October 16, 2024.
- ^ Ingram, Kyle (November 6, 2024). "NC Supreme Court race could head to recount; GOP sweeps Court of Appeals races". The News & Observer. Retrieved November 25, 2024.
- ^ a b c d e f NC State Board of Elections: 2024 Primary Election Candidate filings list
- ^ a b c ActiVote
- ^ a b c ActiVote
- ^ a b c "NFIB North Carolina PAC Endorses Candidates in Four Judicial Races". National Federation of Independent Business. October 14, 2024. Retrieved October 16, 2024.
- ^ Law Offices of Amos Tyndall
- ^ Doty, Kelly (December 5, 2023). "Commissioner Martin Moore runs for North Carolina Court of Appeals". WLOS. Retrieved October 16, 2024.
- ^ Greensboro News & Record
- ^ "03/05/2024 UNOFFICIAL PRIMARY ELECTION RESULTS - STATEWIDE". North Carolina State Board of Elections. Retrieved March 9, 2024.