We Won
This week, Justice Allison Riggs won. North Carolinians won. American democracy won.
When Jefferson Griffin finally conceded, you could feel a collective sigh of relief– not just in North Carolina– but across the country. We maneuvered our way through six months of recounts, ballot cures, legal challenges, and confusing rulings. We endured six months of Griffin’s excruciating attacks on veterans, on legal residents, on legitimate voters. The 2024 election has finally come to an end, and while our democracy did bend, it didn’t break.
This saga was exhausting, but it was also illuminating.
We learned that right-wing extremists will do anything to gain power. They will disenfranchise voters. They will attack our institutions. They will work to change the rules, and then change them again– as many times as it takes to further their unpopular agenda.
We learned that the NC GOP will empower these extremists. They backed Griffin each step of the way, even praising his “integrity” and “steadfast commitment to the rule of law” despite his strategic targeting of legal voters in an attempt to overturn a legitimate election.
But most importantly, we were reminded of the strength of the American people to fight for what’s right. North Carolinians will not give up on their rights, nor the rights of their neighbors.
You marched in the streets. You rallied with your community. You wrote letters to your local papers. You volunteered to cure ballots. You donated time and resources to make sure that every vote was counted, and that no legal vote would be thrown away.
And above all else, in the face of a daunting, demoralizing, anti-democratic movement, you did not roll over. You did not concede defeat. You held fast to the belief that we’re better than this, and you fought to defend that principle, tooth and nail.
Justice Riggs might have put it best.
“I’m in awe of the North Carolinians whose courage reminds us all that we can use our voices to hold accountable any politician who seeks to take power out of the hands of the people.”
I’m in awe too.
Want to celebrate? Join Justice Riggs and Justice Anita Earls in Raleigh at 10 am on Tuesday for a certification rally. We’re looking forward to seeing you there!
