Teamsters Local 391 has joined the NC State AFL-CIO in recommending Sabra Jean Faires for election as the next justice on the North Carolina Supreme Court. Primary voters will decide June 7 if Faires makes it onto the ballot in November. Early voting runs May 26 to June 4.

In the May 18th issue of Indy Week, Bob Geary describes the race to fill the Edmunds seat on the NC Supreme Court as the quiet election that could save the state:

It’s a choice you probably didn’t know you have, in an election that you may not have known is happening. But it is happening, and it’s as important an election for the future of North Carolina as any that will be on the ballot this year.

If not for Sabra Jean Faires, there wouldn’t be a contested election at all. That’s because the General Assembly passed a law that would have all but guaranteed Justice Edmunds would have stayed on the Supreme Court by allowing him to run without opposition if he chose, which he did.

Faires sued the state and won a summary judgement that the legislature’s retention election scheme was unconstitutional, and a partisan 3-3 tie on the NC Supreme Court let the lower court ruling stand.

Local 391 President Mike McGaha said he was impressed with the fight Faires put up in getting on the ballot and for looking out for North Carolina voters.  "She's our kind of attorney, our kind of fighter, and she beat the odds in getting on the ballot," said McGaha.  "I'm confident that her journey to the bench will shape her decisions on the NC Supreme Court."  

This press release was excerpted from the NC AFL-CIO, an umbrella organization for which Teamsters Local 391 is a member.