Beasley had decided to enter the race for the Senate seat being vacated by retiring Senator Richard Burr. She launched her campaign on April 27, 2021. On May 17, she won the Democratic primary election. She lost the general election to Republican nominee Ted Budd. Personal life Beasley is married to Curtis Owens, a scientist. They have twin sons. In 2014, Beasley was the featured speaker at Saint Augustine's University's Lyceum Leadership Speaker Series. She was the commencement speaker to the 2018 class of University of Tennessee College of Law. Beasley was also the keynote speaker at Samford University’s Cumberland School of Law Black Law Students Association's 24th Annual Thurgood Marshall Symposium. In 2019, she was the undergraduate commencement speaker for nearly 900 graduates at Fayettesville State University and the commencement speaker for Elon University's School of Law. See also Joe Biden Supreme Court candidates List of African-American jurists List of female state supreme court justices List of justices of the North Carolina Supreme Court References External links Cheri Beasley for North Carolina campaign website |- |- 1966 births 21st-century American judges 21st-century American women judges African-American judges Chief Justices of the North Carolina Supreme Court Living people North Carolina Court of Appeals judges North Carolina Democrats Justices of the North Carolina Supreme Court Rutgers University alumni University of Tennessee College of Law alumni Women chief justices of state supreme courts in the United States Public defenders 21st-century African-American women 21st-century African-American people 20th-century African-American people 20th-century African-American women Duke University School of Law alumni Candidates in the 2022 United States Senate elections