2012 North Carolina judicial elections

One justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court and three judges of the North Carolina Court of Appeals were elected by North Carolina voters on November 6, 2012, concurrently with the elections for President, U.S. House, Governor, Council of State, State Senate, State House, and other offices. North Carolina judicial elections are non-partisan. Terms for seats on each court are eight years. In three of the four races, incumbents were re-elected to their seats, but incumbent Court of Appeals Judge Cressie Thigpen was defeated by Chris Dillon.

Supreme Court (Seat 2)

Associate Justice Paul Martin Newby ran for re-election for a second 8-year term. North Carolina Court of Appeals Judge Sam Ervin IV challenged Newby in the general election.
Justice at Stake estimated that total spending by Newby, Ervin, and outside groups in this contest surpassed $4.4 million, breaking North Carolina records for spending in judicial elections. One group, Americans for Prosperity, spent $250,000 in support of Newby, more than the group had ever spent on any judicial election.

Poll source	Date administered	Sample size	Margin of error	Paul Newby	Sam Ervin IV	Undecided
Public Policy Polling	October 29–31, 2012	730	± 3.6%	35%	39%	26%
Public Policy Polling	October 12–14, 2012	1,084	± 3.0%	24%	32%	44%
Public Policy Polling	September 27–30, 2012	1,084	± 3.0%	23%	31%	46%

Court of Appeals (Seat 4)

Judge Linda McGee ran for re-election to a third full term. She was challenged by attorney David S. Robinson. McGee won re-election with 61.2 percent of the vote.

Court of Appeals (Seat 5)

Judge Wanda Bryant was the incumbent and ran for re-election. She was challenged by District Court Judge Marty McGee. Bryant won re-election with 56.5 percent of the vote.

Court of Appeals (Seat 6)

Judge Cressie Thigpen, who was appointed to fill the vacancy caused by former Judge Barbara Jackson's election to the Supreme Court, ran for a full term. He was challenged by attorney/bank executive Chris Dillon, who ran for a seat on the Court of Appeals in 2010. Dillon defeated Thigpen and won the seat with 52.8 percent of the vote.