North Carolina Supreme Court Candidate Concedes Race After 6 Months

‘This effort has always been about upholding the rule of law and making sure that every legal vote in an election is counted,’ Jefferson Griffin says.

Judge Jefferson Griffin, then-candidate for the N.C. Supreme Court, listens to testimony in Wake County Superior Court, in Raleigh, N.C., on Feb. 7, 2025. Robert Willett/The News & Observer via AP, File

A candidate seeking the vacant North Carolina Supreme Court seat conceded following a protracted, months-long court battle over thousands of votes in the state that were cast in the 2024 election.

A federal judge issued a ruling on Monday that ordered the North Carolina Board of Elections to certify Democratic candidate Allison Riggs as the winner of the 2024 election. On Wednesday, her opponent, Jefferson Griffin, said in a statement that he is dropping his legal case and will concede the election.

“While I do not fully agree with the District Court’s analysis, I respect the court’s holding—just as I have respected every judicial tribunal that has heard this case,” Griffin said in a statement posted online. “I will not appeal the court’s decision.”

He added that “this effort has always been about upholding the rule of law and making sure that every legal vote in an election is counted.”

Griffin later said that he will wish Riggs “the best and will continue to pray for her and all members of our court system here in North Carolina,” adding that his court challenges have been “about upholding the rule of law and making sure that every legal vote in an election is counted.”

“I am thankful that our Supreme Court affirmed the holding from our Court of Appeals, recognizing that the North Carolina State Board of Elections failed to follow our Constitution and the laws enacted by our General Assembly,” Griffin said. “The courts have affirmed that Voter ID is required for all absentee ballots and that you must be a resident of North Carolina to vote in North Carolina elections. These holdings are very significant for securing our state’s elections.”

U.S. District Judge Richard Myers ruled on Monday that the state board should certify results that, after two previous recounts, showed Riggs is the winner by 734 votes from more than 5.5 million ballots cast in the race.

According to the judge’s order, Griffin’s arguments that sought the “retroactive invalidation of absentee ballots cast by overseas military and civilian voters” violate their due process rights, and “the lack of any notice or opportunity for eligible voters to contest” their ballots also violates due process rights.

Griffin’s decision sets the stage for Riggs to be officially elected to an eight-year term as an associate justice in the nation’s ninth-largest state.

Myers delayed carrying out his order for seven days in case Griffin wanted to ask the Fourth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to review his decision. Democrats had called on Griffin for months to accept defeat, with party officials and allies holding pro-Riggs rallies and entering litigation. They celebrated Riggs’s victory.

“North Carolina can finally turn the page on the 2024 election,” Gov. Josh Stein, a Democrat, wrote on social media platform X this week.

After Griffin’s departure, Republican state House Speaker Destin Hall told reporters that the court challenges may prompt legislation to address problems that surfaced.

“The issues raised by Judge Griffin in that case were completely legitimate,” Hall said, adding that Myers’s ruling that, in part, found it was too late to do anything about them for a 2024 election is “a tough pill to swallow.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.