A new political ad just started airing this week in North Carolina — focusing on an election that’s been over for nearly three months.
It’s unusual for a political ad to air long after ballots have been counted. But the unresolved race for an open seat on the North Carolina Supreme Court isn’t your usual race.
The race is tied up in multiple legal battles. One of them, at the federal appeals court level, is scheduled for oral arguments on Monday. Another, in state court, is proceeding in Wake County. The ad could be aimed at swaying judges in the court of public opinion, as lawyers seek to do the same in the court of law.
Democratic incumbent Justice Allison Riggs appears to have defeated Republican challenger Jefferson Griffin — a result confirmed by multiple recounts. But Griffin is trying to have more than 60,000 people’s ballots thrown out, saying he doesn’t think the state can verify the identities of the voters in question….
One of them is James Danz, a Republican from Pinehurst who’s featured in the new ad — paid for by a group led by former North Carolina Republican Gov. Pat McCrory.
“I voted for [Donald] Trump and Jefferson Griffin,” Danz says in the ad. “I’ve voted Republican my whole life. Now politicians are trying to cancel my vote here in North Carolina. They say I’m on a list of 60,000 voters facing canceled ballots due to a technicality. Now regardless of how you vote, all of us need to stand together to stop this attack on our elections.”
The North Carolina Republican Party didn’t respond to a request for comment about the ad criticizing Griffin’s tactics, or the fact that it’s backed by a Republican former governor.
McCrory’s post-governorship political career has focused on efforts to help restore faith in elections among fellow Republicans in the face of conspiracy theories spread by President Donald Trump and others at the top of the GOP.