2002 North Carolina judicial election

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Several justices of the North Carolina Supreme Court and judges of the North Carolina Court of Appeals were elected to eight-year terms by North Carolina voters on November 5, 2002. Party primary elections were held on Sept. 10. This was the last year in which statewide judicial elections were partisan.

North Carolina Supreme Court American judge

The Supreme Court of the State of North Carolina is the state's highest appellate court. Until the creation of the North Carolina Court of Appeals in the 1960s, it was the state's only appellate court. The Supreme Court consists of six associate justices and one chief justice, although the number of justices has varied from time to time. The primary function of the Supreme Court is to decide questions of law that have arisen in the lower courts and before state administrative agencies.

North Carolina Court of Appeals

The North Carolina Court of Appeals is the only intermediate appellate court in the state of North Carolina. It is composed of fifteen members who sit in rotating panels of three. The Court of Appeals was created by the North Carolina General Assembly in 1967 after voters approved a constitutional amendment in 1965 which "authorized the creation of an intermediate court of appeals to relieve pressure on the North Carolina Supreme Court."

Contents

The result of the election was that all incumbent Democrats went down to defeat, and only one Democrat won a seat that was open (i.e. the incumbent chose not to run for another term).

Supreme Court (Butterfield seat)

Incumbent G. K. Butterfield, a Democrat, had been appointed by Gov. Mike Easley and faced election for the first time. He was defeated by attorney Edward Thomas Brady, a Republican.

G. K. Butterfield American judge

George Kenneth Butterfield Jr. is an American politician serving as a U.S. Representative, first elected to Congress in 2004. He is a member of the Democratic Party. His district is located in the northeastern corner of North Carolina, stretching from Durham to Elizabeth City and including all or parts of 24 counties. An African American and a longtime advocate on behalf of civil rights, Butterfield is a member of the Congressional Black Caucus, and served as its chair from 2015 to 2017.

Mike Easley Governor of North Carolina

Michael Francis Easley is an American lawyer and politician who served as the 72nd governor of the U.S. state of North Carolina from January 2001 to January 2009. A member of the Democratic Party, Easley was North Carolina's second Catholic governor. Thomas Burke was the first, though Easley is the first elected by popular vote.

Edward Thomas Brady is an American trial attorney and former Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of North Carolina. He was elected in November 2002 as a Republican, defeating incumbent G. K. Butterfield. His term expired in January 2011 and he did not seek re-election in 2010. He was the last serving North Carolina Supreme Court justice to be elected in a partisan race. All judicial races in North Carolina became non-partisan as the result of the Judicial Campaign Reform Act signed into law by Governor Mike Easley on October 8, 2002.

In the Republican primary, Brady had defeated Judge Ralph A. Walker.

2002 NC Supreme Court general election
PartyCandidateVotes%±
Democratic G. K. Butterfield 992,60346.12
Republican Edward Thomas Brady 1,159,47653.87

Supreme Court (Orr seat)

Incumbent Robert F. Orr, a Republican, defeated North Carolina Court of Appeals Judge Robert C. Hunter, a Democrat.

Robert F. "Bob" Orr is an American lawyer, formerly an Associate Justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court.

Robert C. (Bob) Hunter is an American jurist, who served as a Judge of the North Carolina Court of Appeals from 1998 through 2014.

In the Democratic primary, Hunter had defeated attorney Bradley K. Greenway.

2002 NC Supreme Court general election
PartyCandidateVotes%±
Democratic Robert C. Hunter 987,44745.35
Republican Robert F. Orr 1,189,75154.65

Court of Appeals (Biggs seat)

Incumbent Loretta Copeland Biggs, a Democrat, was narrowly defeated by Sanford L. Steelman, Jr., a Republican. There were no primaries.

Loretta Copeland Biggs is a United States District Court Judge of the United States District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina.

2002 NC Court of Appeals general election
PartyCandidateVotes%±
Democratic Loretta Copeland Biggs 1,046,68949.14
Republican Sanford L. Steelman, Jr. 1,083,19450.86

Court of Appeals (Bryant seat)

Incumbent Wanda G. Bryant, a Democrat, was defeated by District Court Judge Ann Marie Calabria, a Republican.

Wanda G. Bryant is an American judge, currently an Associate Judge on the North Carolina Court of Appeals.

Ann Marie Calabria is an American jurist who served as a judge on the North Carolina Court of Appeals until her retirement on December 31, 2018.

In the Republican primary, Calabria had defeated Nathanael K. (Nate) Pendley.

2002 NC Court of Appeals general election
PartyCandidateVotes%±
Democratic Wanda G. Bryant 1,020,28647.93
Republican Ann Marie Calabria 1,108,61552.07

Court of Appeals (Campbell seat)

Incumbent Hugh Brown Campbell, Jr., a Democrat, was defeated by District Court Judge Eric Levinson, a Republican.

In the Republican primary, Levinson had defeated Lorrie L. Dollar.

2002 NC Court of Appeals general election
PartyCandidateVotes%±
Democratic Hugh Brown Campbell, Jr. 1,046,59449.0
Republican Eric Levinson 1,089,72851.0

Court of Appeals (Thomas seat)

In the open-seat contest, Martha Geer, a Democrat, narrowly defeated Bill Constangy, a Republican.

In the Democratic primary, Geer had defeated Marcus W. Williams.

2002 NC Court of Appeals general election
PartyCandidateVotes%±
Democratic Martha Geer 1,073,42350.35
Republican Bill Constangy 1,058,48549.65

Court of Appeals (Walker seat)

In the open-seat contest, Rick Elmore, a Republican, defeated George R. Barrett, a Democrat.

In the Democratic primary, Barrett had defeated Beecher Reynolds Gray. In the Republican primary, Elmore had defeated Fritz Mercer.

2002 NC Court of Appeals general election
PartyCandidateVotes%±
Democratic George R. Barrett 1,022,07847.95
Republican Rick Elmore 1,109,31752.05

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