Riggs, Democrats rally in Raleigh pledging to win contested NC Supreme Court race
N.C. Supreme Court Justice Allison Riggs promised to prevail Sunday in the ongoing legal fight over her slim re-election victory in November, telling a downtown Raleigh crowd that Democrats “will prove we won this election.”
Roughly 500 people crowded onto a cold Halifax Mall carrying signs of support in Riggs’ continued campaign against Court of Appeals Judge Jefferson Griffin, among them “She Won” and “I Voted for Riggs, not a rigged election.”
Riggs and a variety of other North Carolina Democrats thanked supporters for the votes that carried several statewide races in November and vowed to someday take back majorities in the legislature and on the courts. But the Riggs-Griffin race dominated Sunday’s rally.
“We will not stop until we have put this election fully to bed,” Riggs said Sunday. “We will make sure that our government is led by people who will protect your right to vote.”
Two months after the election, North Carolina still does not have an official winner in the race for a seat on the state Supreme Court.
Griffin trails Riggs by 734 votes, and he has challenged the validity of more than 60,000 ballots.
One of those ballots was cast by Christy Clausell of Raleigh, who spoke before Riggs on Sunday and told the crowd she has successfully voted since 2012 without issue.
An unaffiliated voter this year, she received a notice in the mail that her vote was being contested. She noted that it was addressed to “Christy Clausell or current resident,” and that it was blank on one side. She might easily have thrown it away, she said.
“I’ve never been targeted in any dirty political schemes,” she said, “but this feels very much like that.”
Two recounts of the results have affirmed Riggs’ lead, but Griffin argues that the state improperly counted ballots from ineligible voters.
The State Board of Elections, which currently has a 3 to 2 Democratic majority, voted mostly along party lines to dismiss Griffin’s challenges.
Griffin sued, asking the state Supreme Court, which has a 5 to 2 Republican majority, to intervene in the case. However, the defendants in the case quickly moved the matter to federal court, where it now stands before U.S. District Judge Richard E. Myers II, an appointee of former President Donald Trump.
Unless Myers issues an injunction, as Griffin has requested, the State Board of Elections could certify Riggs as the winner of the election on Jan. 10.
“Every single vote in this state has been counted and recounted,” said Anderson Clayton, chair of the state Democratic Party. “Supreme Court Justice Allison Riggs has won her seat. These votes deserve to be respected. These votes deserve to be counted. These votes deserve to be left alone.”
Reached Sunday, NC GOP spokesman Matt Mercer said Griffin and state Republicans continue to fight for election integrity and the counting of every legal vote.
“NC Democrats still haven’t appeared to get the message that North Carolinians — and Americans — do not stand with them and their failed policies,” Mercer said in an email. “Whether it’s the weaponization nationally of the legal system against President Trump or the failure of the State Board of Elections here to follow state law, Republicans will stand for freedom of speech and the rule of law to put North Carolina families first.”
Clausell told the downtown crowd that after receiving her notice she sought an explanation from Democratic and Republican officials by email and voicemail. Democrats contacted her seven times, she said; Republicans, none.
“Those actions will tell you who cares and who doesn’t,” she said.
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This story was originally published January 5, 2025 at 3:31 PM.
