The primary election that took place on Tuesday is over and the votes have been counted. Results of note for those involved in the criminal justice system include the following:
- Supreme Court. The race for Justice Hudson’s seat on the Supreme Court will be between Justice Hudson and Judge Levinson. Jeannette Doran was eliminated from contention.
- Several sitting district attorneys lost or face runoffs. I believe that there are three. (1) Ron Moore, the long-time district attorney in Buncombe County, was defeated in the Democratic primary by defense attorney Todd Williams. No Republican is running so Williams will be the next district attorney in Asheville. (2) Melissa Pelfrey, the district attorney in district 6A, lost to Valerie Asbell, the district attorney in district 6B, in the Democratic primary for district attorney in the new consolidated district 6. (3) In district 25 – Caldwell, Burke, and Catawba Counties – sitting district attorney Jay Gaither trailed David Learner in the Republican primary, but Learner fell just short of the needed 40% and Gaither has called for a runoff. No Democrat is running in the district so the runoff will decide the position.
- Wake County district attorney field winnowed. In Wake County, long-time Assistant District Attorney Jeff Cruden leads John Bryant in the Republican primary for district attorney, though the margin is narrow enough that Bryant is entitled to call for a runoff if he wants one. Clerk of court Lorrin Freeman won the Democratic primary for the position.
- No sitting judges lost their seats. Remember that primaries take place in judicial elections only when there are more than three candidates for a seat, with the top two moving on the general election. I don’t think that any sitting judges were eliminated from contention in the primary, though a few were in second place rather than first among the candidates for their seats.
If readers think that I am missing noteworthy results, please weigh in. Full results from the State Board of Elections website are here.
District 20A D.A. which will now only include Stanly County created from the now consolidated 6 district was won in the Republican primary by Lynn Clodfelter in a race that had interesting accusations thrown out during campaigns. There is no democrat running in November so he will be the new DA.