Justice Anita Earls Announces Re-Election Campaign for Second Term

Despite being the only African American and one of only two Democrats on the North Carolina Supreme Court—who, more times than not, is at odds with her Republican colleagues—Justice Anita Earls is game for a second term, and she has announced her reelection campaign for 2026.

Elected to office for her first eight-year term in 2018, Justice Earls made her May 30th announcement during a fundraiser in Durham.

“Our courts are the last hope as the guardians of our democracy—and that is no exaggeration,” Earls said, making clear that she’s not only fully invested in keeping her seat, but seeing the 5-2 Republican majority on the high court overturned in 2028 when Democrats have their next chance of challenging the three Republicans up for re-election.

Thanks to the recent certification of Democrat Justice Allison Riggs’s November 2024 election victory after a protracted, six-month post-election battle against Republican challenger Appellate Court Judge Jefferson Griffin, if Justice Earls can win a second term in 2026, that means Democrats could win back the majority in 2028 they lost on the seven-member court.

Thus, the state Democratic Party is starting to fundraise and push Justice Earls’s reelection campaign now, months before most campaigns for the 2026 midterm elections begin.

With the Republican-led state legislature maintaining its control for the foreseeable future, regaining control of the state Supreme Court is an imperative for the NC Democratic Party, especially with issues like the 2030 redistricting maps looming shortly after the 2028 elections.

Justice Earls, who had a distinguished record as a civil rights attorney prior to being elected to the NC Supreme Court in 2018, said that beyond the dismissive way she has been treated by her Republican colleagues on the court, the fact that four of those colleagues were willing to help fellow Republican Jefferson Griffin try to defeat her Democratic colleague Justice Allison Riggs by tossing out legitimate votes in their race is more than enough reason to see as many of them as possible replaced.

“Four members of my court were willing to throw out the legitimate ballots of voters who voted in accordance with the laws in effect at the time,” Earls told the Raleigh News and Observer, “and these include military people who serve our country at great sacrifice to themselves overseas.”

Thus far, Justice Earls has one announced Republican challenger for her seat, nine-term House member and attorney Rep. Sarah Stevens from Surry County.

Justice Earls says even though she has been in the minority most of the time, she is proud of her record on the court as the only African American and the perspective that she brings to her dissenting opinions.

“I will always endeavor to make sure that I speak in a way that never causes the courts to be called into disrepute,” Earls said Friday. “But as a justice, I’m allowed to write dissents and I’m allowed to tell the public what those dissents say.”