Democrats, Republicans weigh in on Judge Griffin conceding
RALEIGH, N.C. (WNCN) — The final uncertified race in the country from the November Election is over. North Carolina Republican Judge Jefferson Griffin is conceding his race for a Supreme Court seat against incumbent Democratic Associate Justice Allison Riggs after a legal battle to overturn the election.
Democrats say the six month back and forth should've never happened.
'I think everyone across North Carolina, regardless of what political party you're a part of, should be happy today,' Anderson Clayton, Chair of the North Carolina Democratic Party, said.
In a statement provided by his campaign, Judge Griffin says in part: 'While I do not fully agree with the District Court's analysis, I respect the court's holding—just as I have respected every judicial tribunal that has heard this case. I will not appeal the court's decision.'
Democrats nationwide are happy to see an end to the months-long legal battle.
In a statement, Ken Martin, Chair of the Democratic National Committee, said in part: 'This is a righteous victory for democracy and a clear defeat of political gamesmanship. For 200 days, Republicans in North Carolina sought to overturn the will of the people, hijack a state Supreme Court seat, and systematically undermine basic faith in our elections.'
North Carolina Democrats are happy with the end result, but worry about election integrity moving forward.
'Republicans have already set a precedent with this, and we understand that now, looking across the country, people can say, 'Okay, we can take up to six months to deny an election, to potentially delay results like that,'' Clayton said.
North Carolina GOP leaders denied our requests for an interview but in a statement say in part: 'Judge Griffin deserves the appreciation of every North Carolinian for highlighting the appalling mismanagement, inaccurate data, and partisan behavior from the prior State Board of Elections — failures affirmed by multiple courts, including the highest court in our State.'
In her statement, Justice Riggs says in part: 'It's been my honor to lead this fight—even though it should never have happened.'
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to CBS17.com.
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Following ICE subpoena, Chicago city clerk suspending online municipal ID program portal
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Years later, crushed by the surging demand during the Venezuelan migrant crisis, Valencia's office debuted a website in December 2024 to sign up for appointments or apply for the card online. Because of local public records law, the city began retaining documents for those online applicants, more than 2,700 as of this month. Valencia said the city's data retention policy does not allow her office to destroy those documents, which are hosted by third-party software vendor Omicron Technology Solutions but under the control of her office. Asked to offer specific advice for past applicants who may be concerned, she pivoted to reassuring the public that their personal information remains safe. 'Listen, I've always been honest and transparent and led with integrity,' Valencia said. 'I know there's a lot of fear out there, so I want to be very clear that we're going to fight giving over any data to the federal government. … No data was given over to ICE, period, zero, for the CityKey.' But that's the exact scenario that Forest Gregg, a data privacy advocate, warned the city against when it sought community and expert input on how to safely implement CityKey before its debut. 'I was shocked,' Gregg said. 'This seemed to me to be the utmost carelessness. This is the kind of information that you really don't want to depend upon only legal protections to protect. … I really feel it's a betrayal of the people who the clerk asked to trust them.' Asked about whether she has any regrets, Valencia sought to instead pin the blame on Trump during her 45-minute sit-down. 'I want to go back to the original problem, that if this Trump administration wasn't overreaching for private people's data, this would not even be a conversation,' Valencia said. 'This is Trump doing a witch hunt and intentionally trying to instill fear in people so that they can overtake our democracy.' During the city's last round of budget hearings in November, Valencia applauded Chicago for becoming 'the first municipality to give residents the ability to apply for an ID online and receive it through the mail.' By then, Trump had been reelected, unnerving many in the liberal city over his promise to enact the largest mass deportation operation in American history. For one former City Hall official who helped create CityKey, the revelation that the clerk's office still went ahead with an online portal left them 'stunned.' 'I can't believe it, and I know others that were part of the project, I talked to them, they are enraged by this as well,' the ex-staffer said. 'The creation of the online portal was a very specific thing that clearly collided with the original design and the intent that introduced risks.' 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