RALEIGH, N.C. — Only one seat on the North Carolina Supreme Court is on Tuesday’s ballot, but its outcome will help decide how long Republicans keep their hold on the state’s highest court.
Democratic Justice Anita Earls, who holds Associate Justice Seat 1, is seeking another eight-year term. Her Republican challenger is state Rep. Sarah Stevens of Mount Airy, a legislator since 2009 who rose to speaker pro tempore, the No. 2 post in the state House. Before joining the court, Earls built and led a Durham-based civil rights law firm, the Southern Coalition for Social Justice. Whoever wins will sit for eight years, the same term length that applies on the Court of Appeals.
Republicans hold five of the seven seats now. A win for Stevens would make it 6-1, while an Earls win leaves the 5-2 split in place, so the big partisan cases before the court, including redistricting and power disputes between Gov. Josh Stein and the legislature, are unlikely to change course right away.
The longer view is where the seat matters. Three Republican-held seats come up in 2028. If Earls keeps her seat, Democrats could drop one of those three races and still win a majority; if she loses, they would need a clean sweep. The court is also expected to hear challenges to the maps drawn after the 2030 Census.
Earls has led in the limited public polling, though North Carolina voters have tended to lean more conservative in judicial contests than in other races. In 2024, Justice Allison Riggs held her seat by roughly 700 votes after a long legal challenge.
Three Court of Appeals seats are also on the statewide ballot: Michael C. Byrne against John S. Arrowood for Seat 1, George Cooper Bell against Tobias Hampson for Seat 2, and Craig Collins against Christine Marie Walczyk for Seat 3. North Carolina’s elections board publishes a judicial voter guide with statements supplied by each candidate.
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