Republicans Maintain Majority on State Supreme Court | Eastern North Carolina Now

    Publisher's note: The author of this post is Barry Smith, who is an associate editor for the Carolina Journal, John Hood Publisher.

Beasley-Robinson contest likely headed for recount

    RALEIGH     Chief Justice Mark Martin overwhelmingly won his bid for an eight-year term as the state's top jurist.

    Martin, a Republican on the nominally nonpartisan N.C. Supreme Court, defeated Superior Court Judge Ola M. Lewis, also a Republican, by 73 percent to 27 percent.

    Gov. Pat McCrory appointed Martin to the top judicial slot earlier this year when former Chief Justice Sarah Parker retired.

    Republicans will maintain a majority on the nominally nonpartisan court, albeit by a slimmer margin than before Election Day.

    Two Democrats fared well, with one race still too close to call.

    Democrat Sam J. Ervin IV, the grandson of former U.S. Senate icon Sam Ervin Jr. defeated incumbent Justice Bob Hunter, a Republican.

    Hunter's stay on the Supreme Court was short-lived as he lost his race to Ervin, an appeals court judge, by 53 percent to 47 percent. McCrory had also appointed Hunter to the Supreme Court earlier this year.

    Justice Robin Hudson, a Democrat, won her race for a second eight-year term by defeating Superior Court Judge Eric Levinson, a Republican, 52 percent to 48 percent.

    Hudson had been the target of negative independent group ads during the primary. No such advertising came up during the general election campaign.

    The remaining Supreme Court race was too close to call, with Democratic Justice Cheri Beasley leading Republican Mike Robinson 50.06 percent to 49.94 percent, a margin of roughly 3,000 votes. Beasley was appointed to the court in late 2012 as one of former Democratic Gov. Bev Perdue's last acts in office.

    Just after midnight, State Board of Elections spokesman Josh Lawson announced that if the final margin is the lesser of either 0.5 percent or 10,000 votes, a recall would be triggered.

    If Beasley holds on to win, Republicans will have a 4-3 majority on the Supreme Court.

    In a 19-person race for a seat on the N.C. Court of Appeals, John Tyson captured 24 percent of the vote to take his seat on the bench. The closest challenger was John Arrowood, who garnered 14 percent of the vote.

    In other Court of Appeals races, Lucy Inman defeated Bill Southern 52 percent to 48 percent, and Mark Davis defeated Paul Holcombe 59 percent to 41 percent.

    Donna Stroud ran unopposed and garnered 100 percent of the votes cast.