North Carolina Appeals Court Judge Jefferson Griffin (R) has conceded defeat in a contested race for a seat on the state Supreme Court, bringing an end to a saga that has lasted six months.
Griffin’s concession to incumbent state Supreme Court Justice Allison Riggs (D) came after a ruling from a federal judge for the North Carolina State Board of Elections to certify Riggs as the winner. He said he doesn’t fully agree with the ruling but will not appeal it.
“As a judge, I also often have respectful disagreements with my judicial peers,” he said. “While I do not fully agree with the District Court’s analysis, I respect the court’s holding — just as I have respected every judicial tribunal that has heard this case.”
The final outcome of the race, which was the last remaining unsettled election of the 2024 cycle, seemed uncertain for months as Griffin challenged the validity of about 65,000 ballots cast in the race over various issues.
He had argued that 60,000 of the contested ballots should be considered invalid because those voters didn’t include information like a driver’s license or Social Security number on their registration forms. He challenged 5,500 additional ballots from military and overseas voters, arguing they should have been required to present a photo ID upon voting but weren’t.
Those challenges had the potential to be highly consequential in the race because Riggs had finished 734 votes ahead of Griffin. Multiple recounts confirmed Riggs’s lead, but the state elections board had been barred by court order from certifying her as the victor.
Riggs’s campaign and Democrats argued that Griffin was trying to steal the election, while Griffin and other Republicans maintained they were fighting for election integrity and ensuring only valid votes were counted.
The results seemed like they could have changed following a ruling from the state Supreme Court — with Riggs recused — last month in which the court said the 60,000 contested votes with incomplete registration information must be counted, but the 5,500 from military and overseas voters could be thrown out if their identities weren’t verified.
But Chief U.S. District Judge Richard E. Myers, who was appointed by President Trump, ruled Monday that the state elections board must certify Riggs as the winner. Myers found that tossing the military and overseas ballots retroactively would violate the voters’ “substantive due process rights.”
The ruling gave Griffin seven days to appeal before the ruling took effect, but Griffin decided against it.
“As a judge, I believe everybody, myself included, has a right to their day in court,” he said. “This effort has always been about upholding the rule of law and making sure that every legal vote in an election is counted.”
“I wish my opponent the best and will continue to pray for her and all the members of our court system here in North Carolina,” he added.
Riggs said in a statement that she was glad that Griffin conceded and the will of the voters was followed.
“It’s been my honor to lead this fight – even though it should never have happened – and I’m in awe of the North Carolinians whose courage reminds us all that we can use our voices to hold accountable any politician who seeks to take power out of the hands of the people,” she said.
Democratic National Committee Chair Ken Martin called the development a “righteous victory for democracy and a clear defeat of political gamesmanship.”
“For 200 days, Republicans in North Carolina sought to overturn the will of the people, hijack a state Supreme Court seat, and systematically undermine basic faith in our elections,” he said in a statement. “Jefferson Griffin’s relentless assault on reality has come to an end and Justice Allison Riggs will finally take her rightful place on the North Carolina Supreme Court.”
Riggs’s victory will maintain the 5-2 Republican majority on the court. Democrats hope that her win will give them an opportunity to win back a majority in the court in future elections taking place in a few years.
If Riggs had lost, Republicans would have increased their majority to 6-1.
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