North State Journal: “While Republicans fell one seat shy of locking in supermajorities in both chambers of the General Assembly, the party did celebrate a full sweep of the state’s top judicial races.
The wins line up with multiple polls before Election Day that had all Republican candidates in the lead. In the month leading up to the election, super PACs spent more than $9 million in ads in support and opposition of the candidates in the Supreme Court races.
As of the morning of Nov. 14, voting data shows judicial race candidates received some of the highest vote totals of all races on the Nov. 8 ballot.
Court of Appeals Chief Judge Donna Stroud received more than 2 million votes — the highest of any candidate on the Nov. 8 ballot, surpassing both U.S. Senate candidates.
The two N.C. Supreme Court wins by Republicans Richard Dietz and Trey Allen mean the court’s makeup will go from a 4-3 Democrat majority to a 5-2 Republican majority.
Dietz defeated Democrat Lucy Inman by more than 192,000 votes or roughly 5% of the ballots cast in that race.”