Fuel the Research, Flip the NC Court Fundraiser

Last year, Justice Riggs won her election to a full 8-year term – yet 200,000 of her voters chose Republicans in the Court of Appeals races – despite voting for a number of other Democrats. That kind of ticket-splitting has cost us nearly every statewide judicial race since North Carolina made these races partisan. The question is: why? And more importantly, how do we change it?

FLIP NC’s analysis has identified high ticket-splitting precincts and voter characteristics. We have designed a study to learn more about these judicial swing voters and to test messaging in the 2026 election to determine what works to persuade them to vote for Democratic judicial candidates ahead of the 2028 election (when there will be EIGHT statewide judicial races on the ballot). We expect this research to be key in winning back our state courts this decade, with significant downstream effects – including fair maps that will put more Democrats in Congress and in our state legislature.

The study will:

• Poll voters in key precincts to better understand who splits their tickets and why.

• Develop and test messaging with experts to find what truly persuades these voters.

• Run a large-scale ad campaign in 2026 to measure what moves votes – and what doesn’t.

FLIP NC’s data team will lead this project and analyze the results, engaging experts in polling and messaging who have offered their support at significantly discounted rates. The total project cost is $40,000 – including $7,000 for polling, $3,000 for message testing, and $30,000 for targeted advertising.

FLIP NC has raised 80% of the funding needed. Please consider donating to help fund this study.