Tonight’s victory for Toby Hampson, John Arrowood, and Christine Walczyk — supported by a seven-figure independent expenditure by the State + Local Election Alliance — protects all three Democratic-held seats on a court central to the battleground state’s election fights.
RALEIGH — Tonight, North Carolina voters delivered a three-candidate sweep for the state Court of Appeals, re-electing pro-democracy Judges Toby Hampson and John Arrowood and electing Judge Christine Walczyk. Their victories protect all three Democratic-held seats on the state’s second-highest court and keep open the path to overturning its right-wing majority in 2028, when five Republican-held seats will be up for election. The results carry particular weight in a state where courts have become a central battleground for voting rights, with Hampson and Arrowood dissenting in recent decisions that weakened voting protections.
The victories for Hampson, Arrowood, and Walczyk were supported by a seven-figure independent expenditure by the State + Local Election Alliance (SLEA), the only national organization focused on electing pro-democracy candidates to the state and local offices that decide how ballots are cast, counted, certified, and challenged. SLEA was the only major outside spender in North Carolina’s Court of Appeals races.
“Tonight, North Carolina voters won a big victory for free elections and fair courts,” said Kim Rogers, president of the State + Local Election Alliance. “Voters are tired of politicians in Raleigh playing whack-a-mole with democracy and shifting control of elections every chance they get. Protecting and flipping these courts is the best way to protect the will of the voters. Toby Hampson, John Arrowood, and Christine Walczyk give the Tar Heel State three strong voices for democracy on the state’s second-highest courts.”
Walczyk, a longtime Wake County trial judge, defeated Craig Collins, a former candidate for chair of the North Carolina Republican Party. Her victory preserves the seat held by retiring Democratic Judge Allegra Collins. Hampson and Arrowood’s re-elections retain experienced appellate judges on a court that hears consequential disputes over voting rights and election administration.
The Court of Appeals decides cases in rotating three-judge panels, giving individual judges an important role even when their party holds a minority of seats. In 2025, Republican Court of Appeals judges attempted to throw out more than 60,000 votes to overturn the victory of now-Supreme Court Justice Allison Riggs. Riggs fought a six-month court battle before a federal court ordered the election to be certified. Tonight’s victories stop further losses on the Court of Appeals and lay the groundwork for a longer-term shift in a pivotal presidential battleground.
###
