Cheri Beasley
Cheri Beasley | |
---|---|
29th Chief Justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court | |
In office March 1, 2019 – December 31, 2020 | |
Appointed by | Roy Cooper |
Preceded by | Mark Martin |
Succeeded by | Paul Martin Newby |
Associate Justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court | |
In office December 12, 2012 – March 1, 2019 | |
Appointed by | Bev Perdue |
Preceded by | Patricia Timmons-Goodson |
Succeeded by | Mark A. Davis |
Personal details | |
Born | Cheri Lynn Beasley February 14, 1966 Chicago, Illinois, U.S. |
Political party | Democratic |
Spouse | Curtis Owens |
Children | 2 |
Residence(s) | Cumberland County, North Carolina, U.S. |
Education | Rutgers University–New Brunswick (BA) University of Tennessee (JD) Duke University (LLM) |
Occupation |
|
Website | Official website |
Cheri Lynn Beasley[1] (born February 14, 1966) is an American attorney and jurist who served as the chief justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court from 2019 to 2020; she was appointed an associate justice in 2012. Beasley had previously served on the North Carolina Court of Appeals and as a district court judge in Cumberland County, North Carolina.[2]
Beasley was the Democratic nominee in the 2022 United States Senate election in North Carolina. She lost to Representative Ted Budd.[3] Beasley conceded to Budd in a phone call on the night of the election.[4]
Education
Beasley earned a Bachelor of Arts in political science and economics at Douglass College of Rutgers University–New Brunswick in 1988 and a Juris Doctor from the University of Tennessee College of Law in 1991. She also earned a Master of Laws from Duke University School of Law in 2018.[5][6]
Judicial career
Beasley spent her first years after law school as an assistant public defender in Cumberland County, North Carolina.[2] She was first appointed to the bench as a state district court judge by Governor Jim Hunt in 1999, and then elected in a 2002 election. She was reelected without opposition in 2006.[7] She served as a Judge in District 12 (Cumberland County) until her election to the Court of Appeals.
Appellate court
In 2008, Beasley was elected to the North Carolina Court of Appeals, defeating incumbent Douglas McCullough by a 15-point margin.[8] In that election, she became the first Black woman to win election to statewide office in North Carolina without first being appointed by a governor.[9] In December 2012, after four years on the Court of Appeals, Beasley was appointed to the North Carolina Supreme Court by Governor Beverly Perdue, filling the vacancy created by Justice Patricia Timmons-Goodson's retirement.[10] She was elected to a full eight-year term in 2014.[11]
On February 12, 2019, Governor Roy Cooper appointed Beasley to the position of chief justice after Mark Martin retired, making her the first African-American woman to serve as chief justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court.[12]
Beasley ran for a full term as chief justice in the 2020 election, losing by 401 votes[13] to Associate Justice Paul Martin Newby.[14] After leaving office, she joined McGuireWoods as a partner in the law firm's Raleigh office.[15]
2022 U.S. Senate campaign
In February 2021, various media outlets reported that Beasley was considering running in the 2022 U.S. Senate election in North Carolina.[16][17] The News & Observer reported in March 2021 that Beasley had decided to enter the race for the Senate seat being vacated by retiring Senator Richard Burr.[15] She launched her campaign on April 27, 2021.[18] On May 17, she won the Democratic primary election. She lost the general election to Republican nominee Ted Budd.
Endorsements
Endorsed by: | Reference |
---|---|
State Employees Association of North Carolina | [19] |
North Carolina Advocates for Justice | [20] |
Planned Parenthood Action Fund | [21] |
Equality North Carolina | [22] |
NARAL Pro-Choice America | [23] |
Color of Change | [24] |
Human Rights Campaign | [25] |
NextGen PAC | [26] |
Black Economic Alliance PAC | [27] |
League of Conservation Voters Action Fund | [28] |
Sierra Club | [29] |
End Citizens United | [30] |
Climate Hawks Vote | [31] |
Congressional Black Caucus PAC | [32] |
Democracy for America | [32] |
EMILY's List | [33] |
Personal life
Beasley is married to Curtis Owens, a scientist.[34] They have twin sons.[35] In 2014, Beasley was the featured speaker at Saint Augustine's University's Lyceum Leadership Speaker Series.[36] She was the commencement speaker to the 2018 class of University of Tennessee College of Law.[37] Beasley was also the keynote speaker at Samford University’s Cumberland School of Law Black Law Students Association's 24th Annual Thurgood Marshall Symposium.[38] In 2019, she was the undergraduate commencement speaker for nearly 900 graduates at Fayettesville State University and the commencement speaker for Elon University's School of Law.
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Nonpartisan | Cheri Beasley | 1,706,132 | 57.42% | |
Nonpartisan | Doug McCullough (incumbent) | 1,265,378 | 42.58% | |
Total votes | 2,971,510 | 100.0 |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Nonpartisan | Cheri Beasley (incumbent) | 1,239,763 | 50.11% | |
Nonpartisan | Mike Robinson | 1,234,353 | 49.89% | |
Total votes | 2,474,116 | 100.0 |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Republican | Paul Martin Newby | 2,695,951 | 50.004 | |
Democratic | Cheri Beasley (incumbent) | 2,695,550 | 49.996 | |
Total votes | 5,391,501 | 100.0 |
See also
- Joe Biden Supreme Court candidates
- List of African-American jurists
- List of female state supreme court justices
- List of justices of the North Carolina Supreme Court
References
- ^ "Cheri Lynn Beasley - Profile | American Bar Association". Archived from the original on December 4, 2020. Retrieved January 5, 2021.
- ^ a b report, A. staff and wire. "Cheri Beasley, formerly of Fayetteville, to be chief justice of NC Supreme Court". The Fayetteville Observer. Archived from the original on March 30, 2019. Retrieved March 11, 2019.
- ^ Seitz-Wald, Alex (November 8, 2022). "Republican Ted Budd defeats Democrat Cheri Beasley for U.S. Senate in North Carolina". NBC News. Retrieved November 8, 2022.
- ^ "Republican Ted Budd defeats Democrat Cheri Beasley for U.S. Senate in North Carolina". NBC News. November 8, 2022. Retrieved November 13, 2022.
- ^ "Cheri Beasley (1991)". alumni.utk.edu. Archived from the original on September 22, 2022. Retrieved September 24, 2021.
- ^ "Cheri Beasley's Biography". Vote Smart. Retrieved September 26, 2022.
- ^ "NC Bar: 2006 results". Archived from the original on October 23, 2008. Retrieved November 6, 2007.
- ^ "Meet Cheri Beasley - Cheri Beasley for North Carolina". April 25, 2021. Archived from the original on September 24, 2021. Retrieved September 24, 2021.
- ^ "Article 404 - The Fayetteville Observer - Fayetteville, NC". February 13, 2019. Archived from the original on February 13, 2019. [dead link]
- ^ News & Observer: Perdue chooses appeals court judge Beasley for Supreme Court
- ^ "Voting machine problems do not change election outcome". WRAL.com. November 25, 2014. Archived from the original on November 18, 2020. Retrieved November 4, 2020.
- ^ "Cheri Beasley to become first African American woman Chief Justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court". ABC11 Raleigh-Durham. February 12, 2019. Archived from the original on November 10, 2020. Retrieved November 4, 2020.
- ^ "North Carolina Supreme Court elections, 2020". Ballotpedia. Archived from the original on December 12, 2020. Retrieved December 31, 2020.
- ^ "Paul Newby wins North Carolina Supreme Court race as incumbent Cheri Beasley concedes". ABC11 Raleigh-Durham. December 12, 2020. Archived from the original on August 27, 2021. Retrieved August 27, 2021.
- ^ a b Murphy, Brian (March 19, 2021). "She lost by 401 votes in 2020. Now former NC chief justice is planning a US Senate run". The News & Observer. Archived from the original on September 10, 2021. Retrieved May 20, 2022.
- ^ Arkin, James (February 2, 2021). "North Carolina Dems brace for a messy Senate primary". Politico. Archived from the original on May 14, 2022. Retrieved May 20, 2022.
- ^ Karson, Kendall (February 11, 2021). "Powered by recent wins, Democrats intensify push for diversity ahead of 2022". ABC News. Archived from the original on May 20, 2022. Retrieved May 20, 2022.
- ^ Anderson, Bryan (April 27, 2021). "Ex-Justice Cheri Beasley joins North Carolina Senate race". Associated Press. Archived from the original on April 7, 2022. Retrieved May 20, 2022.
- ^ Team, WITN Web. "SEANC endorses Cheri Beasley for U.S. Senate". witn.com. Archived from the original on April 25, 2022. Retrieved September 21, 2022.
- ^ "Cheri Beasley | North Carolina Advocates for Justice". voteyourcourtnc.org. Archived from the original on January 17, 2022. Retrieved September 21, 2022.
- ^ "Planned Parenthood Action Fund Endorses Cheri Beasley to Represent North Carolina in U.S. Senate". www.plannedparenthoodaction.org. Archived from the original on July 10, 2022. Retrieved September 21, 2022.
- ^ "Featured Candidates". Equality NC PAC. Archived from the original on May 20, 2021. Retrieved September 21, 2022.
- ^ "NARAL Pro-Choice America Endorses Cheri Beasley for Election to the U.S. Senate". NARAL Pro-Choice America. February 17, 2022. Archived from the original on September 8, 2022. Retrieved September 21, 2022.
- ^ "Color Of Change PAC Endorses Cheri Beasley". Color Of Change PAC. Archived from the original on October 19, 2021. Retrieved September 21, 2022.
- ^ "Human Rights Campaign Endorses Cheri Beasley of North Carolina In Campaign For U.S. Senate". Human Rights Campaign. Archived from the original on June 1, 2022. Retrieved September 21, 2022.
- ^ "Cheri Beasley Just Landed an Endorsement from the Largest Youth Voting Group in the US - Cardinal & Pine". cardinalpine.com. Archived from the original on September 18, 2022. Retrieved September 21, 2022.
- ^ "Black Economic Alliance Pac Re-Endorses Several U.S House Candidates And Cheri Beasley For U.S. Senate". Black Economic Alliance PAC. July 28, 2022. Archived from the original on August 17, 2022. Retrieved September 21, 2022.
- ^ "Beasley Earns League of Conservation Voters Nod for U.S. Senate". North Carolina League of Conservation Voters. February 7, 2022. Archived from the original on September 22, 2022. Retrieved September 21, 2022.
- ^ Brame, Ken (May 15, 2022). "Letter: Sierra Club offers endorsements". Archived from the original on June 18, 2022. Retrieved September 21, 2022.
- ^ "End Citizens United, Let America Vote endorse Mandela Barnes, Cheri Beasley ahead of 2022". End Citizens United | We the People, Not "We the Wealthy". October 7, 2021. Archived from the original on July 24, 2022. Retrieved September 21, 2022.
- ^ "We do not endorse mediocre Democrats". Climate Hawks Vote. Archived from the original on May 14, 2022. Retrieved September 21, 2022.
- ^ a b "Cheri Beasley Endorsement". CBC PAC. Archived from the original on July 9, 2021. Retrieved September 21, 2022.
- ^ "Cheri Beasley for U.S. Senate, North Carolina". www.emilyslist.org. Archived from the original on September 1, 2022. Retrieved September 21, 2022.
- ^ "Judge to speak at MLK Awards". Salisbury Post. January 14, 2011. Archived from the original on April 20, 2021. Retrieved May 20, 2022.
- ^ Kruse, Michael (October 29, 2021). "One of These People Is the Future of the Democratic South". Politico. Archived from the original on December 16, 2021. Retrieved May 20, 2022.
- ^ "University has reestablished the Lyceum Leadership Speaker Series". Saint Augustine's University. August 29, 2014. Archived from the original on September 22, 2022. Retrieved September 22, 2022.
- ^ Wilson, Jamie (May 11, 2018). "Alumna encourages graduates to lead, affect change". University of Tennessee College of Law. Archived from the original on January 23, 2021. Retrieved September 22, 2022.
- ^ "Cheri Beasley to Speak at 2018 Thurgood Marshall Symposium". Samford University. Archived from the original on March 20, 2022. Retrieved September 22, 2022.
- ^ "NC SBE Contest Results". er.ncsbe.gov. Archived from the original on June 28, 2021. Retrieved June 28, 2021.
- ^ "NC SBE Contest Results". er.ncsbe.gov. Archived from the original on June 28, 2021. Retrieved June 28, 2021.
- ^ "NC SBE Contest Results". er.ncsbe.gov. Archived from the original on February 25, 2021. Retrieved June 28, 2021.
External links
- Cheri Beasley for North Carolina campaign website
- Appearances on C-SPAN
- 1966 births
- 21st-century American judges
- 21st-century American women judges
- African-American judges
- Chief Justices of the North Carolina Supreme Court
- Living people
- North Carolina Court of Appeals judges
- North Carolina Democrats
- Justices of the North Carolina Supreme Court
- Rutgers University alumni
- University of Tennessee College of Law alumni
- Women chief justices of state supreme courts in the United States
- Public defenders
- 21st-century African-American women
- 21st-century African-American people
- 20th-century African-American people
- 20th-century African-American women
- Duke University School of Law alumni