North Carolina
North Carolina court race margin narrows as counties complete Election Day tallies
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.
ASHEVILLE, N.C. (WLOS) — Home sales in western North Carolina have increased since last year, according to the latest report from a realtor group.
Canopy MLS, a subsidiary of the Canopy Realtor Association, reports that May home sales across the four-county Asheville area (Buncombe, Haywood, Henderson, and Madison counties) reflected a spring market that remains “active and competitive.”
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A total of 592 homes closed in May, representing a 6.3 percent increase compared to May 2025 and a 2.1 percent gain over April, the report said. Buyer demand continued to strengthen, with pending sales, a leading indicator of future closings, surging 22.4 percent year over year as 728 properties went under contract during the month.
“The strength of buyer demand in May is encouraging and reflects continued confidence in the Asheville region as a place to live, work and invest,” said Dave Noyes, a Realtor/Designated Managing Broker with eXp Realty and Canopy MLS Board of Director, in a news release. “
ASHEVILLE HOUSING MARKET SHOWS STEADY STRENGTH AS INVENTORY RISES ACROSS REGION
Contract activity also increased 7.1 percent compared to April, signaling that buyers remained engaged despite mortgage rates averaging approximately 6.5 percent throughout May, the report said.
“Buyers are adapting to today’s mortgage rates and taking advantage of the increased inventory we’ve seen over the past year. Although fewer new listings came onto the market in May, homes continue to attract strong interest, which is helping maintain a healthy balance between supply and demand as we head into the summer months,” Noyes said.
While buyer activity increased , new listing activity moderated. Sellers introduced 1,165 homes to the market in May, a 6.7 percent decline compared to the same month last year and a 7.7 percent decrease from April. Even so, the region’s inventory of homes for sale continued to expand, rising 3.2 percent year over year to 3,092 properties at report time. Months of supply, however, declined from six months in May 2025 to 5.4 months this past May, suggesting that the pace of buyer demand is absorbing available inventory faster than new listings are being added.
The report said that although buyers have more choices than a year ago, the market remains relatively balanced, with strong contract activity continuing to support overall sales momentum.
AVERY COUNTY, N.C. (WLOS) — Former Madison County Sheriff’s Chief Deputy Bronis Coy Phillips was processed on Thursday, June 25, in a North Carolina county, according to court documents.
The warrants were served in Avery County on behalf of Madison County. He is now being held without bond, according to the court paperwork.
SBI ARRESTS FORMER MADISON CO. CHIEF DEPUTY FOR CRIMINAL ACTIVITY INVOLVING INMATES, STAFF
The North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation announced that Phillips was arrested on June 14 in Maricopa County, Arizona. He’s expected to face charges in N.C., as News 13 previously reported.
According to court records, Phillips faces multiple felony charges, including:
- Furnishing controlled substances to inmates
- Furnishing deadly weapons to inmates
- Involuntary servitude
- Two counts of assault with a firearm on a detention facility employee
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He was also charged with two misdemeanors:
- Furnishing alcoholic beverages to inmates
- Furnishing tobacco products to inmates
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The NCSBI said the charges stem from an investigation into alleged criminal activity involving inmates and detention facility staff.
North Carolina and NC State, scheduled to meet just once in the men’s basketball regular season for the second consecutive season, are working to schedule a nonconference meeting in Greensboro in December, WRAL has learned.
The Atlantic Coast Conference rivals had played annual games in Raleigh and in Chapel Hill for more than 100 years before last season when the teams met just once in Raleigh. This season, the ACC scheduled just one meeting between the schools in Chapel Hill.
The additional meeting, which is not finalized, would be played Dec. 15 in Greensboro, according to a source.
The 18-team ACC moved from 20 conference games to 18 before last season in an attempt to improve the league’s NCAA Tournament credentials. It worked as the league received eight bids to the NCAA Tournament in 2026, but it also created some scheduling changes, including the elimination of a second game between NC State and UNC in most seasons.
The current conference schedule dictates that each school plays two teams twice (a primary partner and a variable partner), plays 14 teams once and misses one school altogether. In 2026-27, UNC will play Duke (primary) and Louisville (variable) twice and won’t play Clemson. NC State will play Wake Forest (primary) and California (variable) twice and won’t play Syracuse.
Greensboro was the longtime home of the conference office. The ACC men’s basketball tournament has been held at First Horizon Coliseum, formerly the Greensboro Coliseum, 29 times – the most in league history.
For decades, the ACC played a true round robin among its members — a format that became unworkable as the league grew to 12, 15 and, now, 18 basketball-playing schools.
State lawmakers have pursued various measures to force schools in the UNC System to play each other, citing the economic impact of such meetings. North Carolina and NC State are UNC System schools.
A 2024 bill would have required the two ACC schools to play each other and other in-state public universities in football and basketball. A 2025 bill, aimed at potential conference realignment, would have required that NC State and UNC play each annually in football, men’s and women’s basketball, baseball and softball. The Senate’s 2025 budget proposal would have required more basketball games between UNC, NC State and smaller schools across the state. The budget would have added UNC and NC State to the schools that receive annual distributions from sports betting tax revenue.
None of those measures have become law.
NC State and North Carolina have been conference mates since 1911, first in the South Atlantic Intercollegiate Athletic Association, then in the Southern Conference and now the ACC. Both have been members of the ACC since its 1953 founding.
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