RALEIGH, N.C. — In the aftermath of the November 5 election, a Democratic incumbent on North Carolina’s Supreme Court is narrowly leading against her Republican rival as counties finalize their official results.
Associate Justice Allison Riggs saw a significant change in her standing after initially trailing by around 10,000 votes to state Court of Appeals Judge Jefferson Griffin on the night of the election. However, the gap began to narrow last week as local election boards across the 100 counties began reviewing a large number of provisional and absentee ballots, incorporating the tallies of those votes that were deemed eligible.
The county boards conducted their canvass meetings on Friday, and by the culmination of those activities, Riggs had taken the lead over Griffin in a race where over 5.5 million ballots were cast.
Approximately ten counties, including those containing the cities of Winston-Salem and Fayetteville, were still in the process of tallying votes on Friday, with most boards reconvening on Monday. By Monday night, with several counties still awaiting finalization of their canvasses, Riggs’ lead had tightened to less than 70 votes.
If this slender advantage persists, Griffin will have until noon on Tuesday to request a statewide machine recount, in which all ballots would be reprocessed through voting tabulators. A spokesperson for Griffin’s campaign did not immediately reply to inquiries about the matter.
Following the canvass, a few legislative district races remain closely contested, including one in the state House that, if the current margins hold, would disrupt the veto-proof majority that Republicans have held in the General Assembly since last year.
In the House contest covering Granville County and parts of Vance County, Democratic candidate Bryan Cohn leads Republican incumbent Frank Sossamon by 233 votes. There has been no immediate response from the House Republican Caucus concerning whether Sossamon would opt for a recount.
Should Cohn secure a victory, Democrats would claim at least 49 seats, enough to end the GOP supermajority in the 120-member House for the upcoming two-year term. This change could bolster the position of Democratic Gov.-elect Josh Stein, allowing him to more effectively veto Republican legislation he opposes.
There are also three additional General Assembly districts identified as being likely to head to recounts, as indicated by statements from trailing candidates or their representatives. Two of these recounts pertain to Senate races, while one involves a House seat.
In one such House race, Democrat Nicole Sidman announced on Monday that she has formally requested a recount in her contest with state Rep. Tricia Cotham from Mecklenburg County, who currently leads by 216 votes. Cotham’s switch from the Democratic Party to the Republican Party in April 2023 was pivotal in achieving the 72 House seats necessary to confront the governor’s vetoes, relying entirely on Republican members.
In the Senate, Republicans have succeeded in retaining their supermajority by securing the required 30 seats in that chamber. Democrats are currently ahead in two of the Senate’s 50 seats where Republican contenders have requested or plan to request a recount.
Election officials are expected to complete all recounts before the State Board of Elections certifies the final results on November 26.
Riggs, who was appointed to the Supreme Court by Gov. Roy Cooper last year, is one of just two Democrats serving on the seven-member court. Her campaign prominently featured abortion rights, where she staunchly defended reproductive rights in her messaging. This comes in the wake of North Carolina lawmakers passing legislation last year that further restricted abortion after 12 weeks of pregnancy. Griffin contended that Riggs was excessively focusing on an issue that could be argued in future court cases.
In a separate development on Monday, Griffin, alongside his campaign committee and the state Republican Party, initiated a lawsuit against the State Board of Elections in state court. They are seeking a judicial order to compel the board to hand over election records that have already been requested, with an impending deadline for filing candidates’ election protests with county boards approaching on Tuesday afternoon. A spokesperson for the board, Pat Gannon, stated that the requested records were provided on Monday, rendering the lawsuit “thoroughly unnecessary.”