North Carolina judicial elections, 2016

At least one justice of the seven-member North Carolina Supreme Court and at least five judges of the 15-member North Carolina Court of Appeals are scheduled to be elected by North Carolina voters on November 8, 2016, concurrently with other state elections. Terms for seats on each court are eight years.

Elections for seats on both courts will be technically nonpartisan, but under a bill passed by the legislature and signed into law by Gov. Pat McCrory in 2015, House Bill 8, the party affiliations of Court of Appeals candidates will be printed on the ballot. Court of Appeals candidates of all party affiliations would still run in one primary, and the top two vote-getters, regardless of party, would advance to the general election. Primary elections would have been held on March 15, 2016, for seats with more than two candidates, but in the end, only two candidates filed for each Court of Appeals seat.

Supreme Court (Edmunds seat)

The seat currently held by Robert H. Edmunds, Jr. will be on the 2016 ballot. Under current state law, Edmunds would have to relinquish his seat in 2021 if he is re-elected in 2016, because he will reach mandatory retirement age.

A 2015 change in state law was set to make Edmunds the first sitting justice who had the option of running in a retention election rather than running against other candidates. Edmunds chose that option, which would have meant that the state's voters would only be able to vote "for" or "against" Edmunds in the November election. If a majority of voters voted "against," the Governor would appoint a new justice to serve until the next general election. Critics cast this as an attempt by Republicans in the legislature to maintain the 4-3 Republican majority on the Court. Edmunds is a Republican, as is the current governor, who would appoint any replacement. Attorney Sabra Faires and two voters filed a lawsuit, claiming the new election method violated the North Carolina Constitution and was not an election at all, but a referendum. Faires said she wanted to run for the seat. A three-judge panel found in favor of Faires and the two voters, and the State Board of Elections established a new candidate filing period of March 16–25. If more than two candidates filed for the seat, there would be a primary election on June 7.

Edmunds and Faires both filed to run for the seat on March 16. Wake County Superior Court Judge Michael R. Morgan then filed on March 21, and was joined later by attorney Daniel Robertson, setting up a primary.

The state Supreme Court later split 3-3 (with Edmunds recusing himself) on the constitutionality of the retention election, leaving the lower court ruling intact.

Court of Appeals (Dietz seat)

The seat currently held by Richard Dietz, who was appointed to the Court in 2014, will be on the 2016 ballot.

Dietz is running for a full term. Also running is Wake County District Court Judge Vince Rozier.

Court of Appeals (Geer seat)

Judge Martha Geer announced on March 16, 2016, that she would resign to return to private practice. Consequently, the seat will be on the November 2016 ballot. Because of the timing of Geer's resignation, there would be no primary election.

Hunter Murphy is a trial attorney in Waynesville and has been endorsed by retired North Carolina Supreme Court Justice Robert (Bob) Orr. Hunter Murphy, who ran for a Court of Appeals seat in 2014, declared his candidacy on March 17, 2016.

Judge John Arrowood, who served on the Court of Appeals from 2007 through 2008 and also ran for a Court of Appeals seat in 2014 is a candidate for the seat.

Court of Appeals (Hunter seat)

The seat currently held by Robert N. Hunter, Jr. will be on the 2016 ballot. Under current state law, Hunter would have to relinquish his seat in 2019 if he is re-elected in 2016, because he will reach mandatory retirement age.

Hunter is running for re-election. Also running for the seat is former Wake County Superior Court Judge Abraham Jones

Court of Appeals (Stephens seat)

The seat currently held by Linda Stephens will be on the 2016 ballot. She is running for re-election, and has been endorsed by former Chief Judges of the Court of Appeals John C. Martin, Sidney S. Eagles, Jr., and Gerald Arnold.

Under current state law, Stephens would have to relinquish her seat in 2022 if she is re-elected in 2016, because she will reach mandatory retirement age.

Also running for the seat is former Rockingham County District Attorney Phil Berger, Jr.

Court of Appeals (Zachary seat)

The seat currently held by Valerie Zachary will be on the 2016 ballot. She was appointed to the seat in 2015 to replace retiring Judge Sanford Steelman. Zachary is running for a full term.

Also running for the seat is Mecklenburg County District Court Judge Rickye McKoy-Mitchell. Judge McKoy-Mitchell has served as an assistant district attorney for Mecklenburg County, a senior trial attorney for the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, an attorney advisor for the Social Security Administration, and as a staff attorney for the Legal Services of the Southern Piedmont. McKoy-Mitchell received her undergraduate and law degrees from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.