When it comes to winning elections and surprising the political pundits – even those from his own party – Republican gubernatorial hopeful Bob Orr has an enviable track record.

1988 - Court of Appeals

Beginning with his statewide race for Court of Appeals Judge in 1988, Bob’s efforts to defy conventional wisdom were evident. After being reappointed to the court by Governor Jim Martin in November of 1986, Bob soon began to pick up key endorsements for the upcoming election.

On election night, tallies continued into the late hours with the candidates running neck and neck. Bob eventually assumed a small lead that ultimately would grow to more than a 58,000 vote majority. The day following the election, the newspaper stories told it all– Bob Orr had accomplished the impossible by winning a statewide judicial race as a Republican.

1992 - Court of Appeals

In what may have fore-shadowed Bob’s special interest in state constitutional law, the next election produced a law suit as well as an all out effort to beat down the prospects of Republicans getting elected to the courts.

Under a then existing state statute, Bob was entitled after his ’88 election to only the balance of the unexpired term – four years instead of the eight year term mandated by the N.C. Constitution. After carefully studying the issue, Governor Martin issued eight-year commissions to Bob and six democrat judges who also had been elected and were to be deprived of their full eight year terms.

On the last day of the filing period for the 1992 election, a democrat superior court judge, who ironically had benefited from an extension of his own term from eight years to ten years, attempted to file against Bob at the State Board of Elections. Told he could not file, since the commission by the Governor gave Bob a full eight year term, a lawsuit challenging Bob’s term of office was immediately begun. A Superior Court Judge ruled against Bob and the Supreme Court affirmed that decision. As it turned out none of the six democrat judges faced opposition but Bob did. He was immediately thrown into a statewide election with only months to prepare.

1992 was not a good year for Republicans generally and Bob was targeted as the only elected Republican in the statewide judiciary. Holding together many elements of his ’88 coalition, Bob faced the day after the election with a 7,800-vote margin of victory. A recount held several weeks later lowered the margin to 4,800 but it was still a win!

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1994 - NC Supreme Court

Even though Bob now had an 8-year term on the Court of Appeals – one that couldn’t be challenged – circumstances drew him back into the electoral battle. Despite his two statewide victories, the North Carolina Supreme Court remained the exclusive electoral province of the Democratic Party. Since the 1994 election had no statewide races other than judicial races, Bob helped put together a GOP ticket in an effort to elect a Republican to the Supreme Court.

Bob and I. Beverly Lake Jr. were swept to victory in November to become the first two Republicans elected to the Supreme Court in the 20th century.

2002 - NC Supreme Court

Bob’s next and last judicial election took place in 2002. As the only Republican member of the court up for reelection, Bob caught the brunt of the Democrats’ anger over the Court’s decision striking down as unconstitutional the Democrat controlled legislature’s redistricting plan. In a hard fought reelection battle, Bob won by his largest margin ever – over 200,000 votes, and marked his fourth statewide election win.

Retirement 2004

When Bob retired from the Supreme Court in July of 2004, it marked the end of a remarkable legacy as a judicial candidate. Governor Jim Martin had called him 18 years before during the summer of 1986 to tell Bob that he wanted to appoint him to an upcoming vacancy on the Court of Appeals. The Governor also pointed out that Bob would have to stand for statewide election in November – and by the way, no Republican had won a statewide judicial election since 1896. Eighteen years later, Bob had made history and lead the way for others to follow.

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