Fmr. NC Justice Mike Morgan running for governor as Democratic challenger to AG Stein

NORTH CAROLINA — Former North Carolina Justice Mike Morgan will run for governor in 2024, his campaign announced Tuesday.

Morgan is a former Senior Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of North Carolina. He spent 34 years as a judge, and is the only person in state history to have served in four different judgeships, according to his campaign announcement.

Buckle up. It's official. Mike Morgan is taking on Josh Stein in the Democratic primary for Governor pic.twitter.com/ZilMxDg7gL
— Joe Bruno (@JoeBrunoWSOC9) September 12, 2023

He announced in August that he would step down from his position at the beginning of September.

“To those who say that I am a late entry into the Governor’s race, I simply answer that I have been responsibly and successfully completing my work on the Supreme Court and can now devote all of my attention and energy to running for Governor,” Morgan said in a statement.

Morgan will run against Attorney General Josh Stein in the Democratic gubernatorial race. The Republican candidates include Treasurer Dale Folwell, Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson, Jesse Thomas, former U.S. Rep. Mark Walker, and former Sen. Andy Wells.

Current Gov. Roy Cooper is serving his last term.

“As a devoted North Carolinian and a concerned Democrat, I am disappointed by the growing trend — even in my own political party — of a few folks in power trying to select the people’s leaders and determining our destinies. I am committed to challenging the status quo that allows a few at the top to choose the winners and losers among us,” Morgan’s statement reads. “:My vision is to provide all North Carolinians with fair opportunities in which they may thrive and succeed. I am running on a platform that calls for a change to the system that allows the working people, children, and families of North Carolina to be ignored and taken for granted.”

Morgan is from New Bern. At age 8, he was the the first Black student to attend all-white Trent Park Elementary School in 1964. He was one of 5 Black students that year to integrate the city’s public schools, the statement says.

(WATCH PREVIOUS: NC Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson officially announces bid for governor, second republican candidate)