The Board of Elections rejects a challenge to the candidacy of a North Carolina state senator seeking a new seat.

Raleigh, N.C. (AP) – Election officials North CarolinaThe largest county on Thursday retained the candidacy of a state senator in the district where she is now running as Republican allies drew new boundaries that otherwise would have drawn her into the same district with a fellow Democratic incumbent.

The Wake County Board of Elections voted unanimously to reject a candidate residency challenge against first-time state senator Lisa Grafstein, thus determining that she resides in the new 13th Senate District, WRAL-TV. informed of,

Scott Lassiter, a Republican running for the 13th District seat, filed a complaint, alleging that Grafstein had not met the state constitution’s qualification of living in the new district for a year before the November election for the seat . Lassiter can appeal the decision to the State Elections Board, which, like the Wake board, is made up of three registered Democrats and two Republicans.

Grafstein had Announced in late October That she will run for the southern Wake County seat. She currently represents another Wake district that was heavily Democratic when voters elected her in 2022. The new 13th District is considered very competitive politically, and a GOP victory could help the party expand its slight veto-proof majority in 2025.

According to WRAL, Grafstein provided documents at Thursday’s hearing that showed she had moved into her new home on time.

“I think it was pretty clear that I moved, and I did what I said I was going to do,” she told reporters after the board vote. Lassiter will face a GOP primary in March. Grafstein has no primary competition.

If Grafstein no longer lives in the current district she represents, some state Republicans have argued, the state Constitution would disqualify her from continuing to serve in the Senate for the remainder of the two-year session and require her to resign. should give.

Grafstein, who is the only LGBTQ+ senator in the chamber, plans to remain in the Senate this year and said Thursday that the Constitution does not require her to step down. Senate Leader Phil Berger has said he did not expect the chamber’s GOP majority to take action to attempt to remove him from his current Senate seat.

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