NC Supreme Court Associate Justice (Seat 6) (Democratic Ballot Only)

NOTE: You may vote for one. Candidates are presented below in the order they appear on your ballot.

Reason for my Endorsement: Full disclosure: I have known Riggs for many years and consider her a statewide heroine for voter rights and justice. She is smart, creative, dogged, and has been one of, if not the, best and most effective civil rights litigators anywhere. She gets my wholehearted endorsement for this seat.

Allison Riggs

https://www.facebook.com/riggsforourcourts

https://twitter.com/AllisonJRiggs

https://www.riggsforourcourts.com/

This 9 year old video is the best interview with Riggs IMO–her background, what inspires and motivates her, and her call to action on voting rights.

Riggs grew up in Morgantown, WV. She earned her Bachelor of Arts in Microbiology in 2003, Master’s degree in History in 2006 and her Juris Doctor in 2009 — all at the University of Florida. In 2009, Riggs joined the Southern Coalition for Social Justice to eventually lead the Voting Rights Program there.

Over the years, Riggs has demonstrated proven success as a civil rights litigator who has served as lead counsel in numerous voting rights cases. She offers strong credentials in work that has focused on fighting for fair redistricting plans, against voter suppression, and advocating for electoral reforms to expand access to voting for all people.

Bob Phillips, the former Executive Director of Common Cause North Carolina, says “There may not be a finer litigator on gerrymandering and redistricting in the country than Allison Riggs…. She has been a tireless advocate for protecting the rights of all North Carolinians, standing up for marginalized communities and holding those in power accountable to the people.”

Riggs has made two appearances at the U.S. Supreme Court arguing against gerrymandering and has litigated redistricting cases in Texas, Florida, Virginia, and North Carolina. She served as lead counsel for Rucho v. League of Women Voters of North Carolina, making the case that partisan gerrymandering claims should be allowed to be heard in federal court and as a lead litigator in Moore v. Harper, a U.S. Supreme Court case involving partisan gerrymandering in North Carolina.

When NC Court of Appeals Republican Associate Justice Richard Dietz was elected to the NC Supreme Court in 2022, NC Gov. Roy Cooper appointed Riggs to serve out his unexpired term. Prior to this appointment, Riggs had served for 14 years as co-executive director for programs and chief counsel for voting rights at the Southern Coalition for Social Justice in Durham, serving alongside founder Anita Earls (who is currently also an associate justice on the NC Supreme Court).

Riggs has been endorsed by Carolina Federation, the Sierra Club, the Peoples Alliance, the Durham Committee on the Affairs of Black People, and the NC AFL-CIO.

Lora Cubbage

https://www.facebook.com/Cubbage4SupremeCourt

https://www.cubbage4ncsupreme.com/

Cubbage was born in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia and is rightfully proud of her personal story. She worked for 17 years as a barber in Greensboro before returning to school at the age of 29 at NC A&T, graduating with a degree in Sociology.

After earning her degree there, she went on to law school at UNC-Chapel Hill. She’s served as an Assistant District Attorney in Guilford County, as an Assistant Attorney General in Raleigh, and as both a district court judge and (currently) a superior court judge in District 18A (Guilford County). She was appointed to her Superior Court seat by Gov. Roy Cooper in 2018. 

Lora Cubbage ran in 2020 for a seat on the NC Court of Appeals and lost, although she came close, earning 48% of the vote. She is a member of the Greensboro Bar Association, Junior League of Greensboro and the Love & Faith Christian Fellowship Church.

In her race for the NC Court of Appeals, Cubbage said, “I intend to continue to ensure that each person that comes before me gets the benefits and guarantees allowed by our NC and US Constitutions. No matter who you are, what you look like, where you come from or what your religious beliefs or political beliefs are, you deserve equal protection of the laws, equal access to the justice system and impartiality.”

Cubbage is clearly a rising judicial star for Democrats. She is endorsed by the Black Political Caucus of Charlotte-Mecklenburg and the Raleigh Wake Citizens Association.