RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — An already close race for a North Carolina Supreme Court seat narrowed further as most counties on Friday completed final tallies from the Nov. 5 election, setting the stage for possible recounts next week.

With over 80 of the state’s 100 counties completing their work, Associate Justice Allison Riggs, a registered Democrat, trailed Republican challenger Jefferson Griffin by about 3,400 votes from over 5.5 million cast. On election night, the lead for Griffin, a Court of Appeals judge, was roughly 10,000 votes.

State law lets a trailing candidate in a statewide race seek a machine recount — basically running ballots again through tabulator machines — when the margin is 10,000 votes or less. Riggs, who is one of two Democrats on the seven-member court, would have until early next week to decide.

The recount would be completed before the State Board of Elections completes its canvass and certifies results on Nov. 26.

Tens of thousands of provisional and absentee ballots examined by county elections boards in recent days and determined to have met qualifying standards were added to election night totals. Elections boards in all counties met to consider any challenges or protests, upload their totals to state election board computers and certify their results as official.

A handful of counties won’t finish their canvassing work Friday and will continue Saturday or Monday, state elections board spokesperson Pat Gannon said late Friday.

Complete, canvassed results in areas with very close legislative races, which like the Supreme Court contest have not been called by The Associated Press, still indicate that Republicans are unlikely to maintain their veto-proof majority in the General Assembly.

A House seat that covers two rural counties north of the Raleigh-Durham area is the key race. Canvassed results showed first-term GOP Rep. Frank Sossamon trailing Democrat Bryan Cohn by 233 votes. The margin was within the recount-request range for legislative seats of 1 percentage point.

Should Cohn win, Democrats would hold at least 49 of the 120 House seats — one more than needed to end the Republicans’ current veto-proof majority in the chamber when the next two-year session begins in January. That would give Democratic Gov.-elect Josh Stein a more robust veto stamp to block GOP legislation he opposes.

Senate Republicans maintained their supermajority by winning the necessary 30 seats in their chamber. But results were still close enough in elections for two of the 50 seats that recounts could be sought.

Also in the House, Mecklenburg County state Rep. Tricia Cotham still led Democratic opponent Nicole Sidman after Friday’s local canvass. The 216-vote margin is within the recount range. Sidman suggested Friday on X that a recount was likely.

It was Cotham’s switch from the Democrats to the Republicans in April 2023 that secured the necessary 72 House seats to override Cooper’s vetoes in both chambers by relying solely on GOP lawmakers. Cotham has since been targeted electorally by Democrats.

Friday’s results otherwise didn’t affect the outcome of other state and federal races on the Nov. 5 ballot, including Republican Donald Trump’s victory in the presidential race, Democrat Josh Stein’s win for governor and Democrat Jeff Jackson’s victory for attorney general.

Some of the more than 60,000 provisional ballots considered since Election Day were labeled as such because a voter wasn’t able to show an acceptable photo identification. Other provisional ballots can be cast by people who try to vote on Election Day at the wrong precinct site.

A new state law taking effect this year required traditional absentee ballots to be turned in by the close of Election Day polls. But the law directs those received on Election Day to be counted during the canvassing period. Mailed military and overseas ballots could be received later and counted if postmarked by Election Day.

RODANTHE, N.C. – A powerful coastal storm pounding the mid-Atlantic on Friday caused another home on the North Carolina Outer Banks to fall into the sea.

FOX Weather’s Robert Ray became stranded after water from the Atlantic Ocean overtook a highway on the Outer Banks on Friday morning. Ray said the storm was pounding his hotel in Kill Devil Hills overnight.

“It sounded like a heavy, strong tropical storm was pounding the Outer Banks,” Ray said. “You could hear the building, sort of, making banging noise and water hitting off of the glass and the windows pretty extensively. It felt like we were headed into the beginnings of a hurricane.”

While Ray was seeking higher ground he said his photographer, stationed in Rodanthe, saw the leftovers of another home that had collapsed. This is the fifth home this year to tumble into the ocean in Rodanthe, according to Ray. Several more are on the verge of doing the same.

FOURTH HOME COLLAPSES INTO SURF ALONG NORTH CAROLINA’S OUTER BANKS THIS YEAR

According to the North Carolina Department of Transportation, a section of State Highway 12, which connects the Outer Banks, has been closed Friday because of flooding. The National Park Service has also closed sections of beach along Cape Hatteras National Seashore because of dangerous conditions and debris in the water.

Storm Watch issued for much of coastal North Carolina

Due to the threat of northerly winds gusting upwards of 55 mph and dangerous seas, the National Weather Service has issued a Storm Watch for much of coastal North Carolina, which will be in effect from Thursday evening until at least Friday.

Expected rainfall amounts for cities such as Raleigh and Greensboro are expected to be relatively modest, around an inch or two, but coastal communities could experience substantially more, which, in combination with higher seas, could lead to flooding.

HOW TO WATCH FOX WEATHER

“Mariners should prepare to remain in port, alter course, and/or secure the vessel for severe conditions before conditions deteriorate,” NWS meteorologists warned boaters in the Carolinas.

Only slow improvements are expected over the weekend as the storm system generally moves eastward over the Atlantic.

Astronomical king tides are expected to keep water levels elevated for an extended period due to the full Moon cycle.

King tides occur when the gravitational forces of the Moon cause extreme water levels and only occur during the full Moon or new Moon cycles.

An area of high pressure is expected to build over the region during the upcoming week, which will help to bring calmer and clearer conditions.

WESTERN NORTH CAROLINA SEES HEAVIEST RAIN SINCE HURRICANE HELENE

Expected rainfall into early next week.

(FOX Weather)

RALEIGH, N.C. (WTVD) — A viral email from a North Carolina lawmaker’s office is raising eyebrows, after allegedly telling a North Carolina woman to leave the country for raising concerns about our state’s abortion laws.

Video of the email has been circulating all over social media, seen over 200 thousand times on TikTok. It all started from a North Carolina TikTok user Lindsay Talley, who shared an email from her friend who she says has a genetic condition creating life-threatening abnormalities. Her friend wrote to her Republican State Senator Danny Britt concerned about the state’s abortion laws and her ability to expand her family.

And in response, his official email back told her to leave the country. The email says “Thank you so much for the email, I am not quite certain how we are preventing you from expanding your family. I suggest you move to China immediately and see how that works for you. If for some reason that fails Russia is nice in the winter and Venezuela in the summer.”

The email is signed by Senator Britt but appears to be sent from Senator Britt’s legislative assistant, Camille McDougald. In a follow-up email to Talley, McDougald replied “I responded how Senator Britt wanted to me to. No further comment.”

We made multiple attempts to reach the GOP Senator, who has represented parts of the Sandhills including Robeson, Hoke, and Scotland Counties since 2017.

We went to his Raleigh legislative office, and his assistant behind the email declined to comment and walked away from us.

Meanwhile, this could serve as a lesson for how to respond to those they serve. Democratic Congressman Wiley Nickel says his office responds to thousands of emails and he says was surprised to see that kind of response from a fellow lawmaker.

“Anyone who has the honor and privilege of representing constituents in Washington or Raleigh needs to be respectful of the people they represent. We work for them,” Nickel says.

Republicans in the legislature including Senator Danny Britt voted to change state law in 2023 on abortion after the overturn of Roe v Wade, overriding a veto from Democratic Governor Roy Cooper to ban most abortions in our state after 12 weeks.

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