She lost by 401 votes in 2020. Now former NC chief justice is planning a US Senate run
The race for North Carolina’s open 2022 U.S. Senate seat is about to get more crowded.
Former state Supreme Court Chief Justice Cheri Beasley is expected to officially announce her candidacy in the next few weeks, according to a friend authorized to speak on her behalf.
“She’s putting a team together, is planning to announce and I think we’ll see that in early April,” said Kara Hollingsworth, a Cary-based political consultant who has worked on previous Beasley campaigns and remains close with Beasley.
Beasley, 55, lost a close election for chief justice in 2020, losing to Republican Paul Newby by 401 votes. It was the third statewide election for Beasley, who won a seat on the court of appeals in 2008. She was appointed to the state Supreme Court in 2012 and then won her seat in 2014.
Gov. Roy Cooper appointed Beasley as chief justice in 2019. She was the first Black woman to serve as chief justice.
After her loss to Newby, which required a statewide recount, Beasley joined McGuireWoods, a law firm in Raleigh, as a partner in January.
“When everything happened with her other race, she came so close, folks automatically started talking to her about it,” Hollingsworth said. “I’ve watched her since 2008 and I’ve never seen a candidate with the dedication and ability to build trust and deliver on that trust with voters the way I’ve seen from her.”
Who else is running?
Three Democrats have announced their candidacies for the U.S. Senate in 2022. U.S. Sen. Richard Burr, a third-term Republican, is not running for a fourth term. Former state Sen. Erica Smith, state Sen. Jeff Jackson and virologist Richard Watkins are running for the Democratic nomination.
Former NASA astronaut Joan Higginbotham who lives in Charlotte, could also enter the race in April. Higginbotham, 56, is married to former longtime Charlotte City Council member James Mitchell, but she has never run for political office.
“She’s doing all the things a serious candidate for Senate would be doing,” said Joshua Morrow, the executive director of 3.14 Action, which provides resources for STEM candidates new to politics and is committed to helping fund her candidacy.
Morrow said Higginbotham would be a “national star” if she entered the race, citing her background and “incredible resume.” Higginbotham was the third Black woman to go into space.
“A female astronaut, an African-American female astronaut. It screams to me the grassroots community is going to embrace her,” Morrow said. “If and when she gets in, she’s going to have a grassroots network that is going to raise her a lot of money.”
Morrow said 3.14 Action plans to raise and spend $50 million in the 2022 cycle, up from about $30 million in 2020 when it backed Senate candidates Mark Kelly in Arizona and John Hickenlooper in Colorado, as well as several House candidates. If Higginbotham ran, Morrow said, North Carolina would be his group’s top priority.
The 2020 Senate race in North Carolina, in which Republican incumbent Sen. Thom Tillis defeated Democrat Cal Cunningham, was the most expensive race in U.S. history, with more than $287 million spent by candidates and outside groups.
The 2020 Georgia Senate races, which stretched into January with runoffs and had control of the chamber riding on them, have since surpassed it.
Black women candidates
Smith, Beasley and Higginbotham are Black women. There are currently no Black women in the U.S. Senate and there have been just two in the chamber ever, including current Vice President Kamala Harris.
“It’s not by chance. There is a message about what NC voters, in particular what Democratic voters, want to see in a candidate,” said Hollingsworth, whose political firm works with progressive, Black women candidates. “It doesn’t surprise me that you would have three black women running. I think it’s a good thing.”
Former U.S. Rep. Mark Walker is the lone Republican declared for the race, though several other Republicans are considering a run — including Lara Trump, a Wilmington native and President Donald Trump’s daughter-in-law, and former Gov. Pat McCrory.
For more North Carolina government and politics news, listen to the Under the Dome politics podcast from The News & Observer and the NC Insider. You can find it on Pandora, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, iHeartRadio, Amazon Music, Megaphone or wherever you get your podcasts.
This story was originally published March 18, 2021 at 12:04 PM.
