Judge with local ties wins state race

HIGH POINT — Republicans appear to have continued their domination of statewide judicial races in the fall general election, including an appellate court contest won by a candidate with ties to High Point and Randolph County.

Republican candidates won all three N.C. Court of Appeals races, including for a seat held by a Democrat, and lead in the ongoing vote county for the lone contest for the N.C. Supreme Court, according to unofficial returns.

One of the appellate court seats was won by Chris Freeman, who grew up in Asheboro and graduated from High Point University.

Freeman, currently a District Court judge for the district covering Rockingham and Caswell counties, defeated Democrat Martin Moore with 52% of the vote. Freeman will succeed Republican Judge Hunter Murphy, whom Freeman defeated in the GOP primary in March.

On the 15-member appellate court, Republicans are assured of at least keeping their majority at 11-4, though the Republican majority could grow to 12 if a current appellate judge loses his race for a seat on the state Supreme Court.

Current Republican appellate court Judge Jefferson Griffin has been leading state Supreme Court Justice Allison Riggs by a narrow margin in the race for the seat now held by Riggs. As of Tuesday, Griffin led by a little more than 7,600 votes out of nearly 5.5 million ballots cast, according to unofficial returns from the N.C. State Board of Elections. Griffin had 50.07% of the vote to Riggs' 49.93%.

If Griffin wins a seat on the Supreme Court, Democratic Gov.-Elect Josh Stein almost certainly will name a Democratic judge to replace Griffin on the appellate court, leaving the advantage for Republicans at 11 to four seats.

If Griffin defeats Riggs, Republicans will hold six of the seven seats on the N.C. Supreme Court.