North Carolina Supreme Court Justice Cheri Beasley has won a re-count to keep her seat against Winston-Salem attorney Mike Robinson, according to certified State Board of Elections results.
Beasley, endorsed by Democrats in the non-partisan race for the state’s highest court, gained a net of 17 votes in the re-count, keeping a narrow lead of 0.22 percent of ballots cast, the unofficial results show.
Robinson, who was endorsed by Republicans, called Beasley on Tuesday morning to congratulate her and concede the race, he said in an email. He could have requested a hand recount of the roughly 2.5 million ballots cast.
Beasley, 48, was appointed to the bench in 2012 by then-Gov. Bev Perdue, a Democrat. Robinson, 59, is an attorney in private practice who touted his experience in business law in his bid for the court. Robinson got TV ad support from Justice For All NC, a political action committee that received almost of all of its funding from the Washington-based Republican State Leadership Committee.
Republicans will maintain a 4-3 majority in the Supreme Court, which will likely be deliberating on challenges to laws passed by the state’s Republican-led General Assembly and on the 2011 congressional and legislative redistricting maps.
The Beasley-Robinson race was the only one of the four Supreme Court seats on the ballot to come down to less than a percentage point. Chief Justice Mark Martin, a Republican, handily turned back a challenge by Superior Court Judge Ola Lewis. Democrats Robin Hudson, an incumbent, and Sam Ervin IV, a Court of Appeals judge, won their races. Terms on the Supreme Court last eight years.
