With Riggs in place, NC Democrats launch Anita Earls' 2026 Supreme Court campaign

Yahoo

2 days ago

The midterm elections are well over a year away, but North Carolina Democrats have already begun one campaign in earnest.
With national interest attuned to the courts as federal judges seek to limit President Donald Trump's unprecedented efforts to reshape government and North Carolina still reeling from a lengthy battle over the 2024 state Supreme Court election results, Justice Anita Earls kicked off her reelection campaign Friday with a sobering message:
'Our courts are the last hope as the guardians of our democracy — and that is no exaggeration,' Earls, a Democrat seeking her second term on the state's high court, told supporters at a fundraiser in Durham.
The state Supreme Court has been front-and-center over the last six months as Republican candidate Jefferson Griffin unsuccessfully sought to overturn his 2024 loss to Democratic incumbent Allison Riggs.
With Riggs's victory now safely certified, the party shifts its attention to defending Earls' seat — the first step in its long term plan to regain control of the powerful court in 2028.
Republicans gained a 5-2 majority on the court after the 2022 midterms. Shortly after taking office, the new majority reversed previous rulings on gerrymandering and election law, upholding the Republican-controlled legislature's ability to draw maps that favor their own party and their push to require ID at the polls.
'They have wielded the courts in political power, and they have utilized the fact that they have extreme Republicans on these benches right now that are willing to bend the knee to do anything for the state legislature,' Anderson Clayton, chair of the North Carolina Democratic Party, told The News & Observer.
Three Republican justices are up for reelection in 2028. If Democrats can defend Earls' seat in 2026, they'll only have to win two of those races to retake control of the court.
The stakes are high in a state where most major legislation and electoral maps are challenged in court.
Earls said voters need look no further than the Supreme Court's handling of the election dispute over one of its own seats to understand why a change is needed.
When Griffin's case came before the high court, it dismissed his most sweeping challenge to the election results. However, all but one of the Republican justices agreed to allow a 30-day ballot review period for challenged military and overseas votes that could have resulted in thousands of votes being cancelled.
A federal judge later reversed this ruling and ordered the state to certify Riggs as the winner of the election.
'Four members of my court were willing to throw out the legitimate ballots of voters who voted in accordance with the laws in effect at the time,' Earls told the N&O, 'And these include military people who serve our country at great sacrifice to themselves overseas.'
Only one Republican has announced a campaign to challenge Earls so far: Rep. Sarah Stevens, a nine-term state lawmaker and attorney from Surry County.
'On the Supreme Court I will be a conservative voice for justice and families,' Stevens said last month in her campaign announcement. 'My experience as a family law attorney and a state legislator has prepared me to be a voice for those who cannot advocate for themselves.'
At her event on Friday, Earls railed against Stevens' record in the legislature, noting she voted for electoral maps that a court later ruled were gerrymandered and supported efforts to spent millions on private school vouchers.
'She's a career politician and there are real choices that voters have to make in November of 2026,' Earls said.
While Republicans may have to wait for a primary to rally around a candidate, the party is already pushing against Earls.
'Justice Earls is responsible for years of N.C. Supreme Court decisions in which Democrats pushed radical left-wing politics under the guise of dubious legal theories,' Matt Mercer, a spokesperson for the NC GOP said in a statement. 'The voters of North Carolina won't be fooled and will elect a new conservative Justice in 2026 who will follow the law.'
Earls said she was proud of her record on the court, even if much of it has been served in the minority.
As the only Black member of the Supreme Court, Earls said she was grateful to have 'been able to bring a measure of perspectives that helps ensure that our court is serving a broad base of the entire state.'
While the Trump administration continues to target diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives nationwide, Earls has previously been outspoken about the need for diversity in the judicial system, prompting rebukes from Republicans and even an investigation.
In 2023, Earls announced she was suing the Judicial Standards Commission, a body that handles ethics complaints against judges, after it threatened disciplinary action against her for critical comments she made about diversity in the state's judicial system.
Earls later withdrew her lawsuit after the commission informed her it had dismissed the complaint.
She said the specter of that investigation as well as Griffin's attempts to overturn the 2024 election add pressure to her campaign, but will not silence her.
'I will always endeavor to make sure that I speak in a way that never causes the courts to be called into disrepute,' Earls said Friday. 'But as a justice, I'm allowed to write dissents and I'm allowed to tell the public what those dissents say.
'...I'm going to continue to make people aware of what matters to me and what my vision is of what our court system should provide for the people of the state. That seems, to me, fundamental to our democracy.'
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