North Carolina is a top open-seat opportunity for progressives to replace Republican incumbent Sen. Richard Burr, who is retiring. North Carolina is a purple state; registered independents in North Carolina outnumber both Democrats and Republicans. President Donald Trump twice carried the state by very narrow margins while the governor is a Democrat in his second term.
Cheri Beasley is the only candidate in this race to have won statewide twice. In 2008, Chief Justice Beasley was elected to the North Carolina Court of Appeals, winning by a commanding 15-point margin of victory – her first of two successful statewide elections. In 2014, she was elected Associate Justice of the state Supreme Court.
In 2019, Beasley made history by becoming the first African American woman to serve as Chief Justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court. In 2020, Beasley fell short in her reelection campaign by only 401 votes, outperforming most Democrats including President Joe Biden in the state by 11,000 votes and 2020 Democratic Senate candidate Cal Cunningham by 125,000 votes. She again showed her ability to earn support in both urban and rural areas of the state.
