RALEIGH, N.C. — With this year’s Supreme Court race still days from being decided, the next big contest for North Carolina’s top court is already taking shape. Republican Justice Phil Berger Jr. has updated his campaign paperwork to show he is aiming for the chief justice seat in 2028.
North Carolina’s elections board received an amended statement of organization from his committee, Berger for Justice, on Oct. 22, switching the office it is pursuing to chief justice. Berger signed the filing Oct. 14. It lists 2028 as his next election and names a campaign treasurer, but it does not put him on the ballot; candidates still have to file during the regular filing period.
Berger won his seat in 2020 and joined the court in 2021. In September he said he would not run again for his associate justice seat when the term ends in 2028, leaving the door open to a run for the top job.
That job will be open. Chief Justice Paul Newby, also a Republican, sees his term expire in 2028, and the state’s mandatory age limit for judges would keep him from serving out another eight years.
The court now has five Republicans and two Democrats. Tuesday’s ballot carries only one seat, held by Democratic Justice Anita Earls, who is facing former state Rep. Sarah Stevens. Three seats come up in 2028, all of them now held by Republicans, which makes that year Democrats’ best chance in some time to win back a majority they lost in 2022.
Berger is the son of Phil Berger Sr., the longtime leader of the state Senate, who lost a close Republican primary in March. The Republican nod for that legislative district went to Sam Page, the Rockingham County sheriff.
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Filed under: Raleigh NC Politics News
