Video, Walking the Walk - How We Win in 2026 and Beyond, Featuring NC Supreme Court Justice Anita Earls

Written by: Graham Vink, Edited by: Ed Williams

North Carolina won't have equitable representation in Congress until more Democrats are elected to its higher courts, Anita Earls, an associate justice on the state Supreme Court, told an Indivisible Guilford County audience Monday, May 12 in Greensboro. (Watch: Walking the Walk - How We Win in 2026 and Beyond, Featuring NC Supreme Court Justice Anita Earls)

“We can't get fair [congressional] maps without taking back our state courts,” Earls told an enthusiastic audience of about 50 Indivisible supporters. Next year, seven Republican justices – three on the Supreme Court and four on the Court of Appeals – will be up for re-election, giving progressive voters the opportunity to flip both courts from Republican to Democratic control.

“We have to take extraordinary steps to protect our democracy,” Earls said. “It takes people standing up and speaking truth to power ... I will actively stand up and support your rights under the state Constitution.”

Sharing the Indivisible program were representatives from Durham-based FLIP NC, a grassroots organization that since 2017 has been using targeted, direct voter outreach to left-leaning voters to elect progressive candidates in North Carolina. The audience heard that canvassing is most effective when it begins early, on a personal basis, well before a specific election. In 2024, FLIP NC knocked on doors or dropped off literature about state court races to 56,000 households.

Earls will be seeking re-election next year to a second eight-year term on the state's high court.