The Outside Influence of State Judicial Elections

In the lead-up to the North Carolina Supreme Court elections in 2014, one campaign ad in particular raised eyebrows:

Sepia-toned and backed by sinister-sounding music, the TV spot showed a girl in pigtails pedaling away on a tricycle and an empty, still-spinning merry-go-round, while a narrator urged voters to consider the safety of children.

“Justice Robin Hudson: not tough on child molesters, not fair to victims,” the narrator ominously concluded.

Funded by “Justice for All NC,” a political action committee bankrolled by the Republican State Leadership Committee (RSLC), the ad aired 1,490 times in the months before the election, costing a total of $689,530, according to a report released this ...