2020 North Carolina judicial elections

Three justices of the seven-member North Carolina Supreme Court and five judges of the 15-member North Carolina Court of Appeals were elected by North Carolina voters on November 3, 2020, concurrently with other state elections. Terms for seats on each court are eight years. These elections were conducted on a partisan basis.

Incumbent Court of Appeals Judges Linda McGee and Wanda Bryant (both Democrats) did not reopen their campaign accounts with the State Board of Elections, indicating they would not run for re-election,[1] and they did not file for re-election by the time filing closed on Dec. 20, 2019.[2]

Only one candidate from each party filed for each seat, meaning that no party primary elections would be necessary.

In the general election, Republican candidates won all of the races.[3] The results of the Chief Justice race were only confirmed after a lengthy recount process, because of the narrow margin.[4][5]

Supreme Court

Chief Justice (Beasley seat)

Chief Justice Mark Martin, a Republican, announced his resignation in 2019, triggering an election for his seat in 2020. Governor Roy Cooper appointed Associate Justice Cheri Beasley, a Democrat, to become Chief Justice through 2020.[6]

Candidates

Declared

Cheri Beasley (Democrat), incumbent Chief Justice[7]
Paul Martin Newby (Republican), incumbent Associate Justice[8]

Polling

Poll source	Date(s) administered	Sample size[lower-alpha 1]	Margin of error	Cheri Beasley (D)	Paul Newby (R)	Undecided
Cardinal Point Analytics (R)	October 27–28, 2020	750 (LV)	± 3.6%	45%	44%	11%
Meeting Street Insights (R)	October 24–27, 2020	600 (LV)	± 4%	49%	44%	4%
Harper Polling/Civitas (R)	October 22–25, 2020	504 (LV)	± 4.4%	49%	40%	11%
Harper Polling/Civitas (R)	September 17–20, 2020	612 (LV)	± 3.96%	44%	38%	18%

Hypothetical polling

with Generic Democrat and Generic Republican

Poll source	Date(s) administered	Sample size[lower-alpha 1]	Margin of error	Generic Democrat	Generic Republican	Other/Undecided
Harper Polling/Civitas (R)	September 17–20, 2020	612 (LV)	± 3.96%	43%	43%	14%[lower-alpha 2]
Harper Polling/Civitas (R)	August 6-10, 2020	600 (LV)	± 4%	38%	40%	~22%-23%[lower-alpha 3]
Harper Polling/Civitas (R)	April 5–7, 2020	500 (LV)	± 4.4%	39%	36%	25%[lower-alpha 4]
Harper Polling/Civitas (R)	Released March 17, 2019	–[lower-alpha 5]	–	36%	34%	30%[lower-alpha 6]

Results

North Carolina State Supreme Court Chief Justice seat election, 2020
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Paul Martin Newby	2,695,951	50.004
	Democratic	Cheri Beasley (incumbent)	2,695,550	49.996
Total votes			5,391,501	100.0

Beasley requested a recount on Nov. 17, 2020.[9] After the recount found the margin between the candidates to be 401 votes, Beasley called for a second recount in a sampling of precincts statewide, as allowed by law.[10] Beasley then conceded the election to Newby on Dec. 12.[11]

Seat 2 (Newby seat)

The seat currently held by Associate Justice Paul Martin Newby was up for election in 2020. Newby announced that he would run for Chief Justice instead, leaving his Associate Justice seat open.[8]

Candidates

Declared

Phil Berger Jr. (Republican), incumbent Court of Appeals Judge[12]
Lucy Inman (Democrat), incumbent Court of Appeals Judge[13]

Polling

Poll source	Date(s) administered	Sample size[lower-alpha 1]	Margin of error	Phil Berger Jr. (R)	Lucy Inman (D)	Undecided
Meeting Street Insights (R)	October 24–27, 2020	600 (LV)	± 4%	43%	47%	7%

Results

North Carolina State Supreme Court Seat 2 election, 2020
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Phil Berger Jr.	2,723,707	50.67
	Democratic	Lucy Inman	2,652,196	49.33
Total votes			5,375,903	100.0

Seat 4 (Davis seat)

Beasley's elevation to the position of Chief Justice made her Associate Justice seat vacant, which also triggered a 2020 election. Governor Cooper appointed Court of Appeals Judge Mark A. Davis to fill the vacancy as an Associate Justice.[14]

Candidates

Declared

Tamara P. Barringer (Republican), former state senator[15]
Mark A. Davis (Democrat), incumbent Associate Justice[16]

Polling

Poll source	Date(s) administered	Sample size[lower-alpha 1]	Margin of error	Mark A. Davis (D)	Tamara P. Barringer (R)	Undecided
Meeting Street Insights (R)	October 24–27, 2020	600 (LV)	± 4%	50%	42%	6%

Results

North Carolina State Supreme Court Seat 4 election, 2020
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Tamara P. Barringer	2,746,365	51.21
	Democratic	Mark A. Davis (incumbent)	2,616,274	48.79
Total votes			5,362,639	100.0

Court of Appeals

Candidates

Declared

Tricia Shields (Democrat), attorney and Campbell University Law School instructor[1]
April C. Wood (Republican), North Carolina District Court Judge[1]

Results

North Carolina Court of Appeals Seat 4 election, 2020
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Tricia Shields	2,573,482	48.22
	Republican	April C. Wood	2,763,408	51.78
Total votes			5,336,890	100.0

Candidates

Declared

Lora Christine Cubbage (Democrat), North Carolina Superior Court Judge[1]
Fred Gore (Republican), North Carolina District Court Judge[1]

Results

North Carolina Court of Appeals Seat 5 election, 2020
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Lora Christine Cubbage	2,597,057	48.73
	Republican	Fred Gore	2,731,942	51.27
Total votes			5,328,999	100.0

Candidates

Declared

Chris Dillon (Republican), incumbent Court of Appeals Judge
Gray Styers (Democrat), attorney[1]

Results

North Carolina Court of Appeals Seat 6 election, 2020
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Chris Dillon (incumbent)	2,764,967	51.95
	Democratic	Gray Styers	2,557,612	48.05
Total votes			5,322,579	100.0

Seat 7

Judge Reuben Young, a Democrat, was appointed by Gov. Roy Cooper to fill a vacancy, through the end of 2020, and was eligible to run for a full term.

Candidates

Declared

Jeff Carpenter (Republican), North Carolina Superior Court Judge[1]
Reuben Young (Democrat), incumbent Court of Appeals Judge[2]

Results

North Carolina Court of Appeals Seat 7 election, 2020
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Reuben Young (incumbent)	2,574,533	48.42
	Republican	Jeff Carpenter	2,743,085	51.58
Total votes			5,317,618	100.0

Seat 13

Judge Christopher Brook, a Democrat, was appointed by Gov. Roy Cooper to fill a vacancy, through the end of 2020, and was eligible to run for a full term.

Candidates

Declared

Christopher Brook (Democrat), incumbent Court of Appeals Judge.[2]
Jefferson G. Griffin (Republican), North Carolina District Court Judge[2]

Results

North Carolina Court of Appeals Seat 13 election, 2020
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Christopher Brook (incumbent)	2,593,980	48.85
	Republican	Jefferson C. Griffin	2,716,597	51.15
Total votes			5,310,577	100.0

Notes

Key:
A – all adults
RV – registered voters
LV – likely voters
V – unclear
"Neither" with 1%; "Other" with 0%; Undecided with 13%
Undecided with 21%; "Neither" with 1%; "Other Party" with <1%
Undecided with 20%; "Neither/other/independent" with 5%
Not yet released
Undecided with 20%; "Neither/other/independent" with 10%

References

News & Observer
State Board of Elections: State candidate list by county
"NC SBE Contest Results". er.ncsbe.gov. Retrieved 2020-11-13.
www.ncleg.gov https://www.ncleg.gov/EnactedLegislation/Statutes/HTML/BySection/Chapter_163/GS_163-182.7.html. Retrieved 2020-11-13. Missing or empty |title= (help)
Battaglia, Danielle (November 13, 2020). "NC chief justice candidates swap leads back and forth as vote counting continues". The News & Observer. Retrieved November 13, 2020.
"Cheri Beasley Announced as First Black Female Chief Justice in NC History". Spectrum News. February 12, 2019.
Bonner, Lynn; Thompson, Elizabeth (March 10, 2019). "Who's running in North Carolina's 2020 statewide races?". The News & Observer.
"Newby to seek Chief Justice seat in 2020". North State Journal. January 25, 2019.
ABC 11/WTVD
Cheri Beasley on Twitter
ABC11/WTVD: Paul Newby wins North Carolina Supreme Court race as incumbent Cheri Beasley concedes
Doran, Will (January 28, 2019). "Phil Berger Jr., son of powerful Republican lawmaker, wants seat on NC Supreme Court". The News & Observer. Retrieved September 16, 2019.
Doran, Will (January 30, 2019). "Democratic judge Lucy Inman announces 2020 campaign for NC Supreme Court seat". The News & Observer. Retrieved September 16, 2019.
"Gov. Cooper Names Supreme Court Associate Justice". North Carolina Governor. March 11, 2019.
Doran, Will (February 5, 2019). "Former state senator Tamara Barringer of Cary to seek NC Supreme Court seat". The News & Observer. Retrieved September 16, 2019.
"Cooper elevates Court of Appeals judge to Supreme Court". WCTI 12. Associated Press. March 11, 2019.

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.

[Key-9] Key:
A – all adults
RV – registered voters
LV – likely voters
V – unclear

[10] "Neither" with 1%; "Other" with 0%; Undecided with 13%

[11] Undecided with 21%; "Neither" with 1%; "Other Party" with <1%

[12] Undecided with 20%; "Neither/other/independent" with 5%

[13] Not yet released

[14] Undecided with 20%; "Neither/other/independent" with 10%

[nando-1] News & Observer

[ncsbe-list-2] State Board of Elections: State candidate list by county

[3] "NC SBE Contest Results". er.ncsbe.gov. Retrieved 2020-11-13.

[4] www.ncleg.gov https://www.ncleg.gov/EnactedLegislation/Statutes/HTML/BySection/Chapter_163/GS_163-182.7.html. Retrieved 2020-11-13. Missing or empty |title= (help)

[5] Battaglia, Danielle (November 13, 2020). "NC chief justice candidates swap leads back and forth as vote counting continues". The News & Observer. Retrieved November 13, 2020.

[6] "Cheri Beasley Announced as First Black Female Chief Justice in NC History". Spectrum News. February 12, 2019.

[NCcan-7] Bonner, Lynn; Thompson, Elizabeth (March 10, 2019). "Who's running in North Carolina's 2020 statewide races?". The News & Observer.

[Newby-8] "Newby to seek Chief Justice seat in 2020". North State Journal. January 25, 2019.

[15] ABC 11/WTVD

[16] Cheri Beasley on Twitter

[17] ABC11/WTVD: Paul Newby wins North Carolina Supreme Court race as incumbent Cheri Beasley concedes

[18] Doran, Will (January 28, 2019). "Phil Berger Jr., son of powerful Republican lawmaker, wants seat on NC Supreme Court". The News & Observer. Retrieved September 16, 2019.

[19] Doran, Will (January 30, 2019). "Democratic judge Lucy Inman announces 2020 campaign for NC Supreme Court seat". The News & Observer. Retrieved September 16, 2019.

[20] "Gov. Cooper Names Supreme Court Associate Justice". North Carolina Governor. March 11, 2019.

[21] Doran, Will (February 5, 2019). "Former state senator Tamara Barringer of Cary to seek NC Supreme Court seat". The News & Observer. Retrieved September 16, 2019.

[22] "Cooper elevates Court of Appeals judge to Supreme Court". WCTI 12. Associated Press. March 11, 2019.

Elections in North Carolina
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'S' = Special election