North Carolina Supreme Court Associate Justice Anita Earls (center), a Democrat, speaks to reporters after filing to run for re-election in Raleigh on Dec. 1, 2025. (Photo: Galen Bacharier/NC Newsline)
Some of North Carolina’s political hopefuls made their 2026 bids official Monday, lining up at the state fairgrounds to file for election. Democrats aim to hold a crucial Supreme Court seat and chip away at Republican majorities in lower courts.
Candidates for state and federal office have until Friday, Dec. 19 to file for the March 3 primary election. Among the most high-profile contests for the midterm year: an open U.S. Senate seat, a state Supreme Court seat that could determine next decade’s redistricting, and a redrawn congressional district.
“I am just really excited about the prospect of, over the next 11 months, going out and explaining to voters of North Carolina why our state courts matter so much to them,” said state Supreme Court Associate Justice Anita Earls, a Democrat running for re-election to the high court, after filing Monday in Raleigh.
Her vision for the court, Earls said, is as a “check and balance” on the executive and legislative branches, the latter of which is controlled by Republicans. So is the Supreme Court, which has final say on key legislative maneuvers and congressional mapmaking. But if Democrats can hold Earls’ seat, they have a chance to oust two of three Republicans up in 2028 and retake a majority.
Earls will likely face state Rep. Sarah Stevens, a Surry County Republican in November, assuming neither of them attract primary challengers. The race will be high-profile, expensive and potentially litigious: Republicans unsuccessfully sought to overturn another Democratic high court incumbent’s victory in 2024.
Stevens had not yet filed paperwork for her campaign as of Monday afternoon.
Earls was joined Monday by two Democrats running for re-election to the Court of Appeals, Judge Toby Hampson and John Arrowood.
Another Court of Appeals seat, being vacated by Judge Allegra Collins, will see a contested Democratic primary. Judge Christine Walczyk, a longtime district court judge in Wake County, and James Whalen, a Raleigh attorney who served on Justice Allison Riggs’ legal team in the 2024 election court battle, both filed to run for the seat Monday.
Republicans hold 12 of the 15 seats on the Court of Appeals.
The race for U.S. Senate, meanwhile, is almost certainly set but not yet official. Former Gov. Roy Cooper, a Democrat, and former Republican National Committee chairman Michael Whatley have both announced runs but did not file Monday.
Republican Don Brown of Waxhaw, N.C. has filed to challenge Whatley for the Republican nomination. Democrats Justin Dues, who unsuccessfully challenged U.S. Rep. Mark Harris in 2024, and political newcomer Orrick Quick have also filed federal paperwork to challenge Cooper for the seat.
Just one candidate, Republican Elizabeth Temple of Smithfield, has filed for Senate in North Carolina as of Monday afternoon. A former primary candidate for state House, Temple was accused of making offensive comments to students as a substitute teacher for Wake County Public Schools in 2019. She later defended herself, saying the allegations were “not true.”
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