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 created ...

were elected to eight-year terms by

North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and So ...

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 George Kenneth Butterfield Jr. (born April 27, 1947) is an American lawyer and politician who served as the U.S. representative for North Carolina's 1st congressional district from 2004 to 2022. A member of the Democratic Party, he was first elec ...

, 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 72nd governor of North Carolina from 2001 to 2009. He is the first governor of North Carolina to have been convicted of a felony. A member of ...

and faced election for the first time. He was defeated by attorney

Edward Thomas Brady Edward Thomas Brady (born November 1, 1943) is an Americans, American trial attorney and former associate justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court. He was 2002 North Carolina judicial elections, elected in November 2002 as a Republican, defeat ...

, a Republican. In the Republican primary, Brady had defeated Judge Ralph A. Walker.

Supreme Court (Orr seat)

Incumbent Robert F. Orr, 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 United States District Court 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 graduat ...

, a Democrat, was narrowly defeated by

Sanford L. Steelman, Jr. Sanford L. Steelman Jr. (born September 11, 1951) is an American judge, who served on the North Carolina Court of Appeals from January 2003 until his retirement in June 2015. Steelman attended Davidson College, graduating with a degree in politic ...

, a Republican. There were no primaries.

Court of Appeals (Bryant seat)

Incumbent

Wanda G. Bryant Wanda G. Bryant (born June 26, 1956) is an American judge, who retired as an associate judge on the North Carolina Court of Appeals at the end of 2020. Born in Southport, North Carolina, Bryant earned an undergraduate degree in history and com ...

, 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 p ...

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

Court of Appeals (Thomas seat)

In the open-seat contest, Martha Geer, 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 Corr ...

, 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 adjudication, adjudicates legal disputes/disagreements and interprets, defends, and app ...

2002 File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains East Timor independence, indepe ...