VICTORY! MVP Partners Help Secure Pivotal NC Supreme Court Win
In November, Democrat Allison Riggs won her NC Supreme Court race by 734 votes, with the help of MVP partners. Today, after months of failed GOP legal challenges, that win is official!
Today, we are celebrating an important and long-awaited win: After a six-month legal battle, the GOP challenger in November’s North Carolina Supreme Court race has officially conceded to Democratic incumbent Allison Riggs, who, with the help of MVP’s North Carolina grantee partners, won by 734 votes.
This win:
Sets the stage to certify her election next week to a new eight-year term;
Preserves Democrats’ two seats on the seven-seat court; and, crucially,
Gives us a fighting chance to flip the court by 2028 — which could help us finally undo GOP legislative and Congressional gerrymandering, net at least three Democratic U.S. House seats, and claw back power in the state legislature.
What Happened?
In November 2024, Democratic incumbent Allison Riggs won re-election to her state Supreme Court seat by just 734 votes out of 5.5 million votes cast — a margin of victory more than secured by MVP local partners’ long-term voter organizing and large-scale turnout operation last year.
After two recounts confirmed Riggs’ narrow victory, her GOP challenger, Jefferson Griffin, embarked on a six-month legal battle to throw out over 65,000 ballots.
After months of failed appeals to the State Board of Elections as well as state and federal courts, Griffin conceded, prompting the Board of Elections to set in motion plans to certify Riggs as the winner next week.
Why Does This Victory Matter?
This win is a crucial step in MVP’s long-term strategy to transform the politics of North Carolina — and to expand progressive governance at the federal level.
Here is the step-by-step rationale for why this victory is so important — not just for North Carolinians, but for all of us across the country:
1. Winning this seat will help us flip the state Supreme Court by 2028. In 2026, we can preserve Democrats’ 2-5 minority by re-electing incumbent Anita Earls; then, in 2028, we can flip two GOP-held seats, securing a 4-3 Democratic majority.
2. Flipping the court in 2028 will help us enact fair maps. After Republicans won the bicameral General Assembly in 2010, they radically gerrymandered the state’s legislative and Congressional districts before the 2012 elections. If we flip the court before the 2030 census, when new maps will be drawn, we have a good shot at reversing this.
3. Fair maps in NC could determine future control of the U.S. House. A return to fair maps could net us at least three Democratic U.S. House seats — enough to have swung control of the chamber in 2024. Details:
In the 111th Congress (2009-2011), just before the GOP gerrymander, Democrats held an 8-5 majority in North Carolina's U.S. House delegation.
Following the gerrymander, Republicans gained the majority, eventually reaching a 10-3 majority in the 116th Congress (2019-2021).
Throughout the decade, Democrats and pro-democracy groups challenged these maps in court and marginally improved them, thanks to a Democratic Supreme Court majority.
In the 117th Congress (2021-2023), Democrats trimmed the GOP's delegation majority to 8-5, followed by an even 7-7 split in the 118th Congress (2023-2025) when the state gained a House seat following the 2020 Census.
Democratic U.S. House gains were then reversed after Republicans flipped the court in 2022, which swiftly enacted a previously-banned proposed gerrymander, leading to a 10-4 GOP majority in the 2024 elections.
Had there been fair maps in place in 2024, the Brennan Center posits that Republicans would have won three fewer seats — which would have led to a 7-7 delegation split and a Democratic majority in the U.S. House.
4. Fair maps would finally set the stage for policy progress in North Carolina. Beyond the impact on the U.S. House, the GOP gerrymander has also brought about uninterrupted Republican control of the General Assembly. Fair maps will help us chip away at the GOP's majorities and eventually regain a Democratic trifecta. Each legislative seat we help Democrats win will help us defeat regressive bills — and advance a progressive state-level policy vision at long last.
What Role Did MVP Partners Play in This Win?
Collectively, MVP partners knocked over 4.8 million doors in 2024, quadrupling their voter contacts from 2020.
Our partners, Carolina Federation, Down Home North Carolina, and Siembra NC brought a particular targeted focus to the state Supreme Court race, contacting 1.8 million voters specifically in support of Democratic incumbent Allison Riggs.
Together, these organizations collected 59,000 voters’ commitments to support Riggs. After election day, they successfully supported over 800 voters to “cure” their ballots — a crucial process of correcting small errors that would have otherwise disqualified their votes. This “ballot curing” step alone produced more votes than Riggs’ eventual 734-vote margin of victory.
In the face of Riggs’ opponent’s legal challenges, MVP partners held strong every step of the way. Here is a direct update from Carolina Federation:
For the past six months, the Carolina Federation, our members, and our partner organizations have been hard at work contacting all 65,000 challenged voters, organizing rallies, pressuring state legislators to speak up, preparing for ballot rescue operations, and doing everything in our power to defend the will of North Carolina voters.
We wouldn’t be here today without the tireless, fierce work we collectively put in.
THIS WIN IS BECAUSE THE PEOPLE REJECTED GRIFFIN AT EVERY TURN.
THIS WIN HAPPENED BECAUSE ORGANIZING WORKS.
The Moral: Organizing Works — and Your Sustained Support Matters!
In 2024, amidst a federal election marked by devastating losses, North Carolina Democrats actually held the governorship; won the Attorney General and Secretary of State races; and broke the GOP supermajority in the state House (by just one seat in which the Democrat won by just 228 votes).
With today’s news, we can finally add the state Supreme Court race to the “Win” column.
MVP’s local partners in North Carolina contributed to all of these victories — in some cases, decisively so. And none of it could be possible without the support of donors who understand that year-round investment, year after year, is what it will take to build power, win power, then keep power long enough to wield it to transform our country.
Thank you for helping to fuel today’s victory.
Onward!
Correction: May 8, 2025
An earlier version of this post inconsistently stated the number of North Carolina Supreme Court seats and the size of the current GOP majority. There are seven seats on the court; currently, Republicans hold a 5-2 majority, and Democrats would secure a 4-3 majority by flipping two seats in 2028.
Update: May 8, 2025
This post has been updated to include a more thorough timeline of the party split in North Carolina's U.S. House delegation, following GOP gerrymanders.
Thanks for the briefing!