2024 North Carolina judicial elections

Last updated

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.

Contents

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]

2024 North Carolina Supreme Court election
Flag of North Carolina.svg
←  2022 November 5, 2024 (2024-11-05) 2026  →
1 of 7 seat of the Supreme Court of North Carolina
 Majority partyMinority party
 
Party Republican Democratic
Last election2 seats, 52.29%0 seats, 47.71%
Seats before52
Seats won01
Seats after52
Seat changeSteady2.svgSteady2.svg

Results

North Carolina Supreme Court election, 2024 [2]
PartyCandidateVotes%
Democratic Allison Riggs (incumbent) 2,770,412 50.01%
Republican Jefferson Griffin 2,769,67849.99%
Total votes5,540,090 100.00
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

Republican primary

Candidates

General election

Debates

2024 North Carolina Court of Appeals Seat 12 debate
No.DateHostModeratorLink Democratic Republican
Key:
 P Participant  A Absent  N Not invited  I Invited  W  Withdrawn
ThompsonMurry
1June 28, 2024 North Carolina Bar Association Tim Boyum YouTube PP

Polling

Poll sourceDate(s)
administered		Sample
size [a] 		Margin
of error		Carolyn
Thompson		Tom
Murry
ActiVote [8] October 8–26, 2024400 (LV)± 4.9%48%52%
ActiVote [9] August 20 – September 22, 2024400 (LV)± 4.9%49%51%

Endorsements

Tom Murry

Organizations

Results

Results by county Murry 50-60% 60-70% 70-80% 80-90% Thompson 50-60% 60-70% 70-80% 80-90% 2024 North Carolina Court of Appeals Seat 12 Election Results.svg
Results by county
  Murry
  •   50–60%
  •   60–70%
  •   70–80%
  •   80–90%
  Thompson
  •   50–60%
  •   60–70%
  •   70–80%
  •   80–90%
North Carolina Court of Appeals Seat 12 election, 2024
PartyCandidateVotes%
Republican Tom Murry 2,809,458 50.89
Democratic Carolyn Thompson (incumbent)2,710,86349.11
Total votes5,520,321 100.00
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

General election

Polling

Poll sourceDate(s)
administered		Sample
size [a] 		Margin
of error		Valerie
Zachary		Ed
Eldred		Undecided
ActiVote [8] October 8–26, 2024400 (LV)± 4.9%52%48%–
ActiVote [9] August 20 – September 22, 2024400 (LV)± 4.9%53%47%–

Endorsements

Valerie Zachary

Organizations

Results

Results by county Zachary 50-60% 60-70% 70-80% 80-90% Eldred 50-60% 60-70% 70-80% 2024 North Carolina Court of Appeals Seat 14 Election Results.svg
Results by county
  Zachary
  •   50–60%
  •   60–70%
  •   70–80%
  •   80–90%
  Eldred
  •   50–60%
  •   60–70%
  •   70–80%
North Carolina Court of Appeals Seat 14 election, 2024
PartyCandidateVotes%
Republican Valerie Zachary (incumbent) 2,879,049 52.28
Democratic Ed Eldred2,628,45347.72
Total votes5,507,502 100.00
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

Republican primary

Candidates

Results

Results by county Freeman 50-60% 60-70% 70-80% Murphy 50-60% 2024 North Carolina Court of Appeals Seat 15 Republican primary election results map by county.svg
Results by county
  Freeman
  •   50–60%
  •   60–70%
  •   70–80%
  Murphy
  •   50–60%
Republican primary results [14]
PartyCandidateVotes%
Republican Chris Freeman 532,794 62.64
Republican Hunter Murphy (incumbent)317,80737.36
Total votes850,601 100.00

General election

Polling

Poll sourceDate(s)
administered		Sample
size [a] 		Margin
of error		Chris
Freeman		Martin
Moore		Undecided
ActiVote [8] October 8–26, 2024400 (LV)± 4.9%53%47%–
ActiVote [9] August 20 – September 22, 2024400 (LV)± 4.9%52%48%–

Endorsements

Chris Freeman

Organizations

Results

Results by county Freeman 50-60% 60-70% 70-80% 80-90% Moore 50-60% 60-70% 70-80% 80-90% 2024 North Carolina Court of Appeals Seat 15 Election Results.svg
Results by county
  Freeman
  •   50–60%
  •   60–70%
  •   70–80%
  •   80–90%
  Moore
  •   50–60%
  •   60–70%
  •   70–80%
  •   80–90%
North Carolina Court of Appeals Seat 15 election, 2024
PartyCandidateVotes%
Republican Chris Freeman 2,844,286 51.72
Democratic Martin E. Moore2,654,76548.28
Total votes5,499,051 100.00
Republican hold

See also

Notes

  1. 1 2 3 Key:
    A – all adults
    RV – registered voters
    LV – likely voters
    V – unclear

    References

    1. ↑ WRAL.com: Republican concedes long-unsettled North Carolina court election to Democratic incumbent
    2. ↑ "2024 November General Election Recount" (PDF). Retrieved December 18, 2024.
    3. ↑ Anderson, Bryan (December 15, 2022). "Cooper selects voting access advocate Allison Riggs to fill appeals court seat". WRAL-TV . Retrieved October 16, 2024.
    4. ↑ "Governor Cooper Announces Two Judicial Appointments". Governor of North Carolina. September 11, 2023. Retrieved October 16, 2024.
    5. ↑ Duneja, Annika (September 19, 2023). "Judge Carolyn Thompson appointed to N.C. Court of Appeals". The Daily Tar Heel . Retrieved October 16, 2024.
    6. ↑ 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.
    7. 1 2 3 4 5 6 NC State Board of Elections: 2024 Primary Election Candidate filings list
    8. 1 2 3 ActiVote
    9. 1 2 3 ActiVote
    10. 1 2 3 "NFIB North Carolina PAC Endorses Candidates in Four Judicial Races". National Federation of Independent Business. October 14, 2024. Retrieved October 16, 2024.
    11. ↑ Law Offices of Amos Tyndall
    12. ↑ Doty, Kelly (December 5, 2023). "Commissioner Martin Moore runs for North Carolina Court of Appeals". WLOS . Retrieved October 16, 2024.
    13. ↑ Greensboro News & Record
    14. ↑ "03/05/2024 UNOFFICIAL PRIMARY ELECTION RESULTS - STATEWIDE". North Carolina State Board of Elections . Retrieved March 9, 2024.
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