Several justices of the

North Carolina Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the State of North Carolina is the state of North Carolina's highest appellate court. Until the creation of the North Carolina Court of Appeals in the 1960s, it was the state's only appellate court. The Supreme Court consists ...

and judges of the

North Carolina Court of Appeals The North Carolina Court of Appeals (in case citation, N.C. Ct. App.) is the only intermediate appellate court in the state of North Carolina. It is composed of fifteen members who sit in rotating panels of three. The Court of Appeals was create ...

were elected to eight-year terms by

North Carolina North Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, South Carolina to the south, Georgia (U.S. stat ...

voters on November 5, 2002. Party primary elections were held on Sept. 10. This was the last year in which statewide judicial elections were partisan. The result of the election was that all incumbent Democrats went down to defeat, and only one Democrat won a seat that was open (i.e. the incumbent chose not to run for another term).

Supreme Court (Butterfield seat)

Incumbent G. K. Butterfield, a Democrat, had been appointed by Gov.

Mike Easley Michael Francis Easley (born March 23, 1950) is an American lawyer and politician who served as the List of Governors of North Carolina, 72nd governor of North Carolina from 2001 to 2009. He is the first governor of North Carolina to have been ...

and faced election for the first time. He was defeated by attorney Edward Thomas Brady, a Republican. In the Republican primary, Brady had defeated Judge Ralph A. Walker.

Supreme Court (Orr seat)

Incumbent

Robert F. Orr Robert F. "Bob" Orr (born October 11, 1946) is an American attorney, jurist, and politician who served as an associate justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court from 1995 to 2004. Orr was a Republican candidate for governor of North Carolina in ...

, a Republican, defeated North Carolina Court of Appeals Judge Robert C. Hunter, a Democrat. In the Democratic primary, Hunter had defeated attorney Bradley K. Greenway.

Court of Appeals (Biggs seat)

Incumbent

Loretta Copeland Biggs Loretta Yvonne Copeland Biggs (born March 6, 1954) is a senior United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina. Biography Biggs was born on March 6, 1954, in Atlanta, Georgia. She gradua ...

, a Democrat, was narrowly defeated by Sanford L. Steelman, Jr., a Republican. There were no primaries.

Court of Appeals (Bryant seat)

Incumbent Wanda G. Bryant, a Democrat, was defeated by District Court Judge

Ann Marie Calabria Ann Marie Calabria (born October 31, 1947) is an American jurist who served as a judge on the North Carolina Court of Appeals until her retirement on December 31, 2018. Born in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, Calabria studied at Fairleigh Dickinson ...

, a Republican. In the Republican primary, Calabria had defeated Nathanael K. (Nate) Pendley.

Court of Appeals (Campbell seat)

Incumbent Hugh Brown Campbell, Jr., a Democrat, was defeated by District Court Judge

Eric Levinson Eric L. Levinson is an American jurist, lawyer, and diplomat. He served on the North Carolina Court of Appeals and the North Carolina Superior Court. He also was the Justice Attache to the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad. Levinson was a North Carolina ...

, a Republican. In the Republican primary, Levinson had defeated Lorrie L. Dollar.

Court of Appeals (Thomas seat)

In the open-seat contest,

Martha Geer Martha A. Geer is an American attorney and jurist who served as a judge of the North Carolina Court of Appeals. Geer was born in Grinnell, Iowa and spent most of her childhood in Virginia, where her parents were teachers. Geer attended Bryn Mawr C ...

, a Democrat, narrowly defeated Bill Constangy, a Republican. In the Democratic primary, Geer had defeated Marcus W. Williams.

Court of Appeals (Walker seat)

In the open-seat contest,

Rick Elmore Rick Elmore is an American judge who previously served as a judge of the North Carolina Court of Appeals. Elmore earned his undergraduate degree in 1974 from Guilford College in North Carolina, and worked for the North Carolina Department of Cor ...

, a Republican, defeated George R. Barrett, a Democrat. In the Democratic primary, Barrett had defeated Beecher Reynolds Gray. In the Republican primary, Elmore had defeated Fritz Mercer.

References

State Board of Elections - 2002 General Election ResultsState Board of Elections - 2002 Primary Election Results
{{North Carolina judicial elections

Judicial The judiciary (also known as the judicial system, judicature, judicial branch, judiciative branch, and court or judiciary system) is the system of courts that adjudicates legal disputes/disagreements and interprets, defends, and applies the law ...

2002 The effects of the September 11 attacks of the previous year had a significant impact on the affairs of 2002. The war on terror was a major political focus. Without settled international law, several nations engaged in anti-terror operation ...