Justice Allison Riggs was FINALLY sworn in today for her full term on the NC Supreme Court around 10 this morning, by her fellow judge Anita Earls. WNC streamed the ceremony on their YouTube channel.
Now the fight to keep Justice Earls on the court next year begins.
Justice Allison Riggs was FINALLY sworn in today for her full term on the NC Supreme Court around 10 this morning, by her fellow judge Anita Earls. WNC streamed the ceremony on their YouTube channel.
Now the fight to keep Justice Earls on the court next year begins.
as a volunteer for Justice Earls back in law school, she is the real deal. Hopefully she benefits from a split republican field like she did in 2018. NC Governor appoints and fills all vacancies so this could flip to a majority well before the 2028 number that is thrown about a lot. Up until 2020 the Court was 6-1 democratic, but in 2017 it was 4-3 democratic just several years after a horrific conservative majority. Things are fluid in the old north state.
I don't think Justice Earls will have that split Republican field like she did in 2018 -- but with the 2026 midterms, she won't need it. I think she'll get reelected by a bigger number than Riggs did last year. Her 2026 GOP challenger Sarah Stevens is pretty despicable.
And in the waning days of their supermajority last year, NC Republicans overrode Gov Cooper on a law requiring any appointees to appellate and state courts be of the same party as the outgoing justice (the governor could only pick one candidate out of three put forward by the party). Meaning that if Paul Newby or Tamara Barringer died or resigned before their terms were up, Gov Stein could only appoint a Republican out of three chosen by NC GOP.
Anderson Clayton has been working her butt off to turn things around since she became state party Democratic chair in 2023. She not only managed to get Josh Stein in the governor's mansion, but Jeff Jackson, Mo Green, Rachel Hunt and now Allison Riggs won their seats. Under previous leadership, we'd have lost more statewide races last year.
2028 is going to be a BIG year for the state. Dave Boliek, the yes-man for Phil Berger who now controls the NC State Board of Elections, will be a top target. Lots of Rs will be up for re-election and with Trump termed out, there will be Dems and independents looking to punish the GOP.
I'm hoping we can oust Ted Budd and flip at least two of the state Supreme Court seats in 2028. That would be a boon for NC.
Ms. Clayton is the best. I was most impressed by the Mo Green and Rachel Hunt victories. If previous leadership had actually gone after Dan Forrest and Mark Robinson maybe Roy Cooper would have felt more comfortable accepting a place on VP Harris's ticket. No disagreement the party is finally doing the right steps down in NC. I was only there from 2017-2020 and was shocked by the lack of infrastructure for a party that--up until 2010 had complete control of all three branches for literally generations.
Only area of concern is we still cannot get proper POC turnout in the Charlotte area. Not on Anderson Clayton, but i remain skeptical we take it federally until we can bump those charlotte numbers up. But totally agree, if not for Anderson Clayton North Carolina would have been a wipeout, and instead we finally have numerical parity on the council of state
The fact that a sitting Democratic SCONC judge narrowly won her reelection last year -- in an R-favorable election cycle with Trump on the ballot -- is proof that Anderson is a force to be reckoned with. I wish we had won those three seats on the Court of Appeals too, but SCONC is the big prize.
I honestly think the NC GOP is scared of her now. They thought they had several down ballot races in the bag, especially the state Supreme Court, that those narrow losses rattled them. That's why they pushed through those sore loser power grabs -- not a good sign for their future in this state. Because had Anderson been in charge of party leadership in 2020 and 2022, the NC GOP wouldn't have a 5-2 majority on our state's highest court. Hell, Phil Berger would've been demoted to state Senate minority leader with fair state legislative maps by now.
Not sure if Dems actually would have won the state senate in 2020 or 2022 even with the Anderson in charge. However, Dems really dropped the ball in 2020 in many races they should have won.
Chief Justice Paul Newby ousted Cheri Beasley in 2020 by a margin of 401 votes -- so no. That was a preventable failure by state party leadership by Bobbi Richardson.
Beasley would've likely won by a small amount if Anderson was on the scene in 2020.
2024 was so horrible, I completely forgot about down ballot races in NC. I remember a bullet point about it here, but that was a good bulletin point amongst a lot of awful.
Justice Allison Riggs was FINALLY sworn in today for her full term on the NC Supreme Court around 10 this morning, by her fellow judge Anita Earls. WNC streamed the ceremony on their YouTube channel.
Now the fight to keep Justice Earls on the court next year begins.
as a volunteer for Justice Earls back in law school, she is the real deal. Hopefully she benefits from a split republican field like she did in 2018. NC Governor appoints and fills all vacancies so this could flip to a majority well before the 2028 number that is thrown about a lot. Up until 2020 the Court was 6-1 democratic, but in 2017 it was 4-3 democratic just several years after a horrific conservative majority. Things are fluid in the old north state.
I don't think Justice Earls will have that split Republican field like she did in 2018 -- but with the 2026 midterms, she won't need it. I think she'll get reelected by a bigger number than Riggs did last year. Her 2026 GOP challenger Sarah Stevens is pretty despicable.
And in the waning days of their supermajority last year, NC Republicans overrode Gov Cooper on a law requiring any appointees to appellate and state courts be of the same party as the outgoing justice (the governor could only pick one candidate out of three put forward by the party). Meaning that if Paul Newby or Tamara Barringer died or resigned before their terms were up, Gov Stein could only appoint a Republican out of three chosen by NC GOP.
Ah I forgot that. Another reason I am not sad I donтАЩt live there anymore
Anderson Clayton has been working her butt off to turn things around since she became state party Democratic chair in 2023. She not only managed to get Josh Stein in the governor's mansion, but Jeff Jackson, Mo Green, Rachel Hunt and now Allison Riggs won their seats. Under previous leadership, we'd have lost more statewide races last year.
2028 is going to be a BIG year for the state. Dave Boliek, the yes-man for Phil Berger who now controls the NC State Board of Elections, will be a top target. Lots of Rs will be up for re-election and with Trump termed out, there will be Dems and independents looking to punish the GOP.
I'm hoping we can oust Ted Budd and flip at least two of the state Supreme Court seats in 2028. That would be a boon for NC.
Ms. Clayton is the best. I was most impressed by the Mo Green and Rachel Hunt victories. If previous leadership had actually gone after Dan Forrest and Mark Robinson maybe Roy Cooper would have felt more comfortable accepting a place on VP Harris's ticket. No disagreement the party is finally doing the right steps down in NC. I was only there from 2017-2020 and was shocked by the lack of infrastructure for a party that--up until 2010 had complete control of all three branches for literally generations.
Only area of concern is we still cannot get proper POC turnout in the Charlotte area. Not on Anderson Clayton, but i remain skeptical we take it federally until we can bump those charlotte numbers up. But totally agree, if not for Anderson Clayton North Carolina would have been a wipeout, and instead we finally have numerical parity on the council of state
The fact that a sitting Democratic SCONC judge narrowly won her reelection last year -- in an R-favorable election cycle with Trump on the ballot -- is proof that Anderson is a force to be reckoned with. I wish we had won those three seats on the Court of Appeals too, but SCONC is the big prize.
I honestly think the NC GOP is scared of her now. They thought they had several down ballot races in the bag, especially the state Supreme Court, that those narrow losses rattled them. That's why they pushed through those sore loser power grabs -- not a good sign for their future in this state. Because had Anderson been in charge of party leadership in 2020 and 2022, the NC GOP wouldn't have a 5-2 majority on our state's highest court. Hell, Phil Berger would've been demoted to state Senate minority leader with fair state legislative maps by now.
Not sure if Dems actually would have won the state senate in 2020 or 2022 even with the Anderson in charge. However, Dems really dropped the ball in 2020 in many races they should have won.
Chief Justice Paul Newby ousted Cheri Beasley in 2020 by a margin of 401 votes -- so no. That was a preventable failure by state party leadership by Bobbi Richardson.
Beasley would've likely won by a small amount if Anderson was on the scene in 2020.
2024 was so horrible, I completely forgot about down ballot races in NC. I remember a bullet point about it here, but that was a good bulletin point amongst a lot of awful.
We had several significant Democratic statewide wins in NC. Unfortunately that didn't extend to the presidential race or state auditor's election.