A North Carolina Republican lawmaker is ending her time in the state legislature early to focus more on the higher office she’s seeking in this year’s midterm elections.

Rep. Sarah Stevens, R-Surry, said Tuesday she will resign from the state legislature next week to focus fully on her 2026 campaign for a seat on the state Supreme Court.  Stevens, a former member of GOP leadership in the legislature, is seeking to unseat Democratic Justice Anita Earls for an eight-year term on the state’s highest court.

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“I leave the legislature with tremendous respect for the institution and confidence in its future,” Stevens wrote in her letter of resignation, adding that she was particularly proud of work she did on education, foster care reform and more.

The news began spreading as Stevens was heading a meeting of a House judiciary committee she chairs. One of her fellow lawmakers, Rep. Karl Gillespie, R-Macon, delayed debate on a bill in that committee to first honor Stevens’ nearly 20 years in the legislature.

“I would be remiss if I didn't acknowledge your service to North Carolina,” Gillespie told Stevens. “You've mentored me and many others before me. I just want to thank you for all that you have done, and all that you will continue to do, for the great state of North Carolina.”

Resigning will allow Stevens to ramp up her fundraising efforts for her judicial campaign, particularly from business interests. State campaign finance reports lag months behind, but the most recent documents — updated as of February — show that Stevens had $217,000 in her campaign account, a fraction of Earls’ $1.96 million.

State lawmakers are banned from taking campaign donations from lobbyists. They’re also banned, while the legislature is in session, from taking money from any political action committees or other groups affiliated with companies that hire lobbyists — which covers essentially every major business or pro-business group.

But judicial candidates don’t face similar bans, and Democrats alleged that Stevens was quitting primarily for the purpose of collecting money from those groups. “Sarah Stevens is abandoning her constituents so that she can raise dirty money from lobbyists and avoid accountability for her failure to fund education and public safety,” Anderson Clayton, the North Carolina Democratic Party chairwoman, said in a statement, alluding to the fact that Stevens plans to resign just days before state lawmakers could vote on a new budget.

A Stevens campaign spokesperson didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

Stevens took thousands of dollars from lobbyists, during the 2025 legislative session, for her judicial campaign. Critics said it appeared to be a clear violation of state law, potentially punishable by criminal charges, and at least one requested the State Board of Elections to open an investigation. But there’s no indication such an investigation was ever opened by the elections board, which is governed by a Republican majority.

Stevens’ campaign consultant told WRAL at the time that she returned the money, while noting that judicial candidates are allowed to take money from lobbyists or organizations that employ lobbyists.

Republicans have a 5-2 majority on the court, but Democrats could regain control as soon as the 2028 elections — a feat that would be harder, though not impossible, if Stevens were to knock off Earls this year.

With the next round of redistricting coming up after the 2030 Census, Democrats and Republicans alike are eager to control the court and thus have a say in whether the legislature should be able to gerrymander the state’s political maps.

National groups have poured tens of millions of dollars into North Carolina Supreme Court races in recent years, since control of the court can affect redistricting and therefore play a large role in which party controls the U.S. House of Representatives. North Carolina is one of the largest swing states in the nation, so maps can be drawn many different ways to favor either Democrats or Republicans.