Robin Hudson, a Democrat and associate justice running for a second term on the state’s highest court, was leading with 41 percent of the vote, apparently closer to gaining a spot on the Nov. 4 ballot as part of a campaign to keep her seat.
Eric Levinson, a Mecklenburg County Superior Court judge and one of two Republicans in the primary contest, also seemed to be moving toward a spot on the November ballot with nearly 37 percent of the vote.
The race between Hudson, 62, and Levinson, 46, has been of keen interest in political circles inside and outside North Carolina.
Jeanette Doran, 38, a Republican who was appointed Dec. 31 by Gov. Pat McCrory to lead the review board that hears unemployment compensation appeals, entered the contest a day before the close of the filing period.
Doran, the former executive director of the N.C. Institute for Constitutional Law, an organization tied to the family of McCrory’s budget director, Art Pope, created a political stir with her candidacy. With Doran in the race, the field of three seeking the Hudson seat had to be narrowed to two in a primary election that was expected to bring a heavy draw from Republicans interested in the U.S. Senate race. Turnout was low — with just 14 percent for a primary election that offered local and statewide races.
That meant in an election year where the balance of political power on the N.C. Supreme Court was at issue, Doran’s candidacy and the possibility of two Republicans emerging from the primary could have helped them maintain a court majority that might be more favorable to a conservative agenda. That still could happen in the fall elections, but Hudson was considered a target by conservative organizations.
The N.C. Supreme Court race has been described as part of a concerted effort by the Republican State Leadership Committee in Washington to win judiciary seats across the country.
The Judicial Fairness Initiative, the GOP program announced last week, calls for spending millions to “focus on educating voters to better understand the ideology of candidates up for judicial branch elections,” Matt Walter, the committee’s president, told The New York Times.
