A North Carolina trial judge on Friday upheld decisions by election officials to reject protests by the trailing candidate in a very close state Supreme Court election who wants tens of thousands of contested ballots removed from the race tallies.

Friday’s hearing marked the beginning of a new phase of arguments, after both sides spent months arguing over whether the case should be heard by state or federal courts.

Three counts found an incumbent Democrat won a State Supreme Court race. But the Republican candidate is trying to nullify more than 60,000 votes.

An appeals court has agreed that a federal trial judge acted properly last month in declining to rule on the eligibility of voters in an unresolved North Carolina Supreme Court election.

Tuesday’s decision means Judge Jefferson Griffin’s challenge could eventually be heard by the North Carolina Supreme Court, the very body he aims to join.

On Friday, a Wake County Superior Court judge ruled in favor of the North Carolina State Board of Elections in their decision regarding Republican Jefferson Griffin's challenge to the 2024 NC Supreme Court race election results.