All incumbent judges and justices who sought re-election won their respective races, except for Judge Cressie Thigpen of the Court of Appeals, who had been appointed shortly before the election and lost North Carolina's first statewide election to use Instant-runoff voting.
N.C. Court of Appeals Judges Robert C. Hunter[1] and Barbara Jackson filed to run for the open seat.
[2] Incumbent Ann Marie Calabria[3] first announced that she would not seek re-election,[4] but then reversed course and filed to run for another term.
Incumbent Martha A. Geer was opposed by appeals referee and adjunct law instructor Dean R. Poirier.
[13][14][15] The law that allowed for instant runoff voting for judicial elections was eventually repealed in 2013.
[17] Thigpen then filed to run for the full eight-year term, as did twelve other candidates, including attorneys Chris Dillon,[18] Anne Middleton, John Sullivan and Pamela Vesper, all of Raleigh; attorney J. Wesley Casteen of Wilmington; attorney Daniel Garner[19] of Wake Forest; attorneys John Bloss, Jewel Ann Farlow[20] (a 2008 candidate) and Stan Hammer, all of Greensboro; Superior Court Judge Mark E. Klass (who had previously run for the Calabria seat); former Court of Appeals Judge Douglas McCullough; and former North Carolina Commissioner of Labor Harry Payne.
[24] The recount showed a slightly changed vote total, but the ultimate result was the same, and Thigpen conceded defeat.