(The Center Square) – With just 54 days until the election, Republican Jefferson Griffin and incumbent Democrat Allison Riggs are in the final leg of their race for a North Carolina Supreme Court seat.
In the only election for a seat on the state’s highest court, each candidate presents a very different vision. And Riggs is trying to win her first election with voters having rejected her party’s candidate in each of the last five state Supreme Court races.
Riggs went from a 14-year stint arguing cases and serving as an executive director for voting rights at the Southern Coalition for Social Justice to a Court of Appeals appointment – filling the seat of a Republican who won a state Supreme Court seat election. Gov. Roy Cooper made that move in December 2022. The governor lifted her again on Sept. 11, 2023, to the state’s highest court.
Still, the court has a Republican majority of five Republicans to two Democrats just four years removed from being 6-1 Democrats.
“I am a proven constitutional conservative,” Griffin said in a statement to The Center Square. “I believe in judicial restraint and not legislating from the bench. I have more judicial experience and more practical experience than my opponent. I have served as both a trial court judge and an appellate judge in North Carolina. I have over 10 years of judicial service.”
On Wednesday night, Riggs attended a North Carolina Democratic Party virtual event called “Taking Back the Courts 101.” She was joined by three Democratic Court of Appeals candidates, who spoke on the importance of Democrats regaining control of the courts in North Carolina.
“I am the newest member on the North Carolina Supreme Court, running to keep my seat this year and also to spark a movement to win back our courts for justice,” Riggs said. “We have the opportunity to build long-lasting power.”
Riggs blasted her opponent for his “extreme” positions during the webinar.
“He is someone who embraces a judicial philosophy called originalism,” she said. “These folks who embrace originalism do so in a really rigid, extreme way. They use this judicial philosophy to chip away at my rights and your rights.”
Griffin said there are two different ways of viewing the duties of judges.
“We currently have no former trial court judges serving on the North Carolina Supreme Court,” he told The Center Square. “I believe that is a valuable perspective to add. My opponent spent her career at the Southern Coalition for Social Justice, leading some of the most polarizing and political litigation in our state. I believe the role of a jurist is to interpret the law, not make the law.”
Abortion was an issue that Riggs, who has been endorsed by multiple pro-abortion organizations like Pro-Choice NC, Planned Parenthood Votes South Atlantic, and Reproductive Freedom for All, touched on again and again throughout the webinar.
“This is what is at stake, women’s access to health care,” she said. “I’m tired of my rights varying in the political winds. I want to be able to cast my ballot and start my family in safety and in peace. And to do that, we have to make a plan that’s bigger than any one election cycle or any one candidate.”
Griffin’s team declined to have him comment on specific policy issues, citing the Code of Judicial standards for not allowing a judicial candidate to “take a position on any issue that may appear before the court.”
With significantly more funding, Griffin is giving Riggs a run for her money, even though she is an incumbent.
At the end of the second fundraising period, which ended on June 30, Griffin had $1.1 million. This is according to campaign finance documents.
That was after spending just $76,000 but bringing in nearly half a million from individual donors.
Riggs ended the period with $583,000, but she spent $245,000, more than three times what Griffin spent over the same period.
So, while Griffin entered the last few months of the election with significantly more money, Riggs spent more money.
She also brought in more money than Griffin, with her contributions from individuals totaling $608,000. This is according to campaign finance documents.
In less than two months, North Carolina will decide between these different visions. Regardless, the Republican Party will have a majority – how much is the question.
It was just eight years ago when Democrat Michael Morgan’s win turned the majority to Democrats 4-3 just as Cooper stepped into office. The courtroom was called upon several times when he disagreed with a General Assembly sporting GOP majorities in each chamber.
Democrats held a 6-1 edge going into the 2020 election and lost three state Supreme Court races, reducing their advantage to 4-3. In 2022, Republicans won both races to gain their 5-2 majority.
Griffin said he believes “integrity, humility, and independence” are the principles that should be most important to a judge.
He added that his extensive legal background makes him a perfect candidate.
“I have authored over 200 appellate opinions,” he said. “I have represented defendants in private practice and served as a prosecutor in Wake County for five years. I prosecuted cases from infractions to murder. I am an Army veteran and I still serve in the North Carolina Army National Guard. I have been deployed to the Middle East as a National Security Law Judge Advocate.”
Riggs said the race is part of a bigger picture for the North Carolina Democratic Party.
“We don’t need extremism in the courtroom,” she said. “We are building the infrastructure to not only take back our court before the next round of regular redistricting, but to make sure that your rights are guaranteed all the time, and that our courts are always filled with people of integrity and people who care about protecting and defending your rights, not just chipping away at them.”
