ELECTION RESULTS: Superior and District Court judge results in Guilford and Forsyth Counties

While most eyes were on the races at the top of the ticket on Tuesday night, several judicial seats were won by incumbents and in uncontested races in Guilford and Forsyth Counties. Superior court, which is located across the state, deals with felonies and misdemeanors that have been appealed from district court. It also deals with civil cases involving $25,000 or more. District court deals with misdemeanors and civil cases involving less than $25,000.

Below are the winners for superior and district court judicial races as of Tuesday at 11:45 p.m. 

GUILFORD COUNTY

NC Superior Court District 24B Seat 1

WINNER: D – Stephanie Reese

R – Georgia Nixon

In the race for one of the few contested judicial seats in Guilford County, Democrat Stephanie Reese won over Republican Georgia Nixon. As of 11:30 p.m., Reese had 55.5 percent of the vote to Nixon’s 44.6 percent with more than 90 percent of precincts reporting in.

Reese was first appointed to the seat in 2022 by Gov. Roy Cooper before the realignment of districts last year. At a candidate forum in February, Reese noted that she’s never been publicly sanctioned and that she is pro-choice. If she had the power to change something about the judicial system, Reese said she would make the first-offender diversion program for drug violations mandatory so that people don’t get convicted of felonies.

NC Superior Court District 24E Seat 1

WINNER: D – Tonia Cutchin

Cutchin won this seat on Tuesday after running unopposed in both the general election and the primary election. Cutchin was first appointed to serve as a superior court judge in 2022 by Gov. Roy Cooper. She previously served as a district court judge.

NC District Court District 24 Seat 3

WINNER: D – Ashley Watlington-Simms

Watlington-Simms won this seat on Tuesday after running unopposed in both the general election and the primary election. While Watlington-Simms did not have any opponents this year, she made headlines for seizing News & Record reporter Kenwyn Caranna’s notes in 2023. As reported by the Assembly, “Watlington-Simms’ actions appeared to run afoul of two state laws, and experts said she violated the U.S. Supreme Court’s prohibition against prior restraint, or the suppression of information that a news organization has obtained.” A court case between Watlingon-Simms and the News & Record is ongoing. 

NC District Court District 24 Seat 4

WINNER: D – Caroline Tomlinson-Pemberton

Tomlinson-Pemberton won this seat on Tuesday after running unopposed in both the general election and the primary election. Tomlinson-Pemberton first won the seat in 2020 and previously worked as an assistant district attorney and as a registered nurse.

NC District Court District 24 Seat 5

WINNER: D – Walter Trip Baker

Baker won this seat on Tuesday after running unopposed in the general election. In the primary, he won against John Stone. Baker was first appointed to district court in 2023 by Gov. Roy Cooper and prior to that, served as an assistant district attorney in Guilford County and was a solo practitioner at Baker Law Offices. During a candidate forum, Baker said that his philosophy of law is to take his time and to do research and “lean” on other attorneys if needed to make a decision in a case. He said that he is pro-choice and has presided over hearings involving minors seeking abortions in the state.

NC District Court District 24 Seat 6

WINNER: D – Michelle Fletcher

Fletcher won this seat on Tuesday after running unopposed in both the general election and the primary election.

NC District Court District 24 Seat 7

WINNER: D – Angela Foster

Foster won this seat on Tuesday after running unopposed in both the general election and the primary election. Foster was first elected to the seat in 2020. In 2019, Foster was temporarily censured by the NC Supreme Court for ordering bailiffs to handcuff a mother and place her in a holding cell while Foster lectured her two teenage children. “It was never my intention to embarrass her,” Foster told TCB in 2020, “but it was my intention to show her children that their actions could lead to this.”

NC District Court District 24 Seat 8

WINNER: D – Angela Bullard (Angie) Fox

Fox won this seat on Tuesday after running unopposed in both the general election and the primary election. 

NC District Court District 24 Seat 9

WINNER: D – Tabatha Holliday

Holliday won this seat on Tuesday after running unopposed in both the general election and the primary election. Holliday first ran for district court in 2012, running for District 18 and beat incumbent Polly Sizemore with more than 53 percent of the vote.

NC District Court District 24 Seat 10

WINNER: D – Charlene Y. Armstrong

Armstrong won this seat on Tuesday after running unopposed in the general election. Armstrong has worked for 27 years as an attorney, 18 of those years in Guilford County. During a candidate forum, she said that she is pro-choice and that she’s represented “young ladies who need to have that decision made for them and it was heart-wrenching when judges decided for whatever reason not to approve that decision because the judges had whatever opinion, and these young ladies’ plans for their future and they could not talk to their parents about it.” 

NC District Court District 24 Seat 11

WINNER: D – Bill Davis

Davis won this seat on Tuesday after running unopposed in both the general election and the primary election. Davis has served as a district court judge since 2016. Prior to that, he served as an assistant public defender for more than 18 years.

NC District Court District 24 Seat 12

WINNER: D – Kelvin Smith

Smith won this seat on Tuesday after running unopposed in the general election. He beat two opponents in the primary election this past spring. The incumbent candidate, Smith was first elected to district court in 2020 after beating opponent Gavin Reardon in the election. He was then appointed by Gov. Cooper to a different vacant seat. When asked about minors turning to the courts to seek abortions in NC, Smith said that “a lady justice, allegedly, is blind. So your personal perspective should not matter whether you’re pro-life or pro-choice.”

NC District Court District 24 Seat 13

WINNER: D – Brian Tomlin

Tomlin won this seat on Tuesday afternoon running unopposed in the general election. The incumbent candidate, Tomlin was appointed to an open seat in 2019 by Gov. Roy Cooper and was then re-elected in 2020 after winning the primary election against Moshera Mills. Tomlin has worked as a lawyer and a judge for a combined 27 years. Prior to that, he worked as a news reporter for 11 years, five of them at the News & Record. 

NC District Court District 24 Seat 14

WINNER: D – Tomakio Gause

Gause won this seat on Tuesday afternoon running unopposed in the general election. Gause first ran for District Court in 2020 and lost to Carolina Tomlinson-Pemberton in the primary election. Gause has worked in private practice for the last 13 years and has worked in law for 18, representing indigent criminal and civil clients. She said she is pro-choice and that she would reach out to other attorneys if there’s anything she doesn’t know while sitting as a judge, “because I don’t know everything and I’m perfectly fine admitting I don’t know everything,” she said.

FORSYTH COUNTY

NC Superior Court District 31C Seat 1

WINNER: R – Eric Morgan

Morgan won this seat on Tuesday afternoon running unopposed in the general election and the primary. Morgan is currently serving his ninth year as a superior court judge.

NC District Court District 31 Seat 5

WINNER: D – Camille Banks-Prince

Banks-Prince won this seat on Tuesday afternoon running unopposed in the general election and the primary. She formerly represented the 21^st judicial district.

NC District Court District 31 Seat 6

WINNER: D – Artrese Ziglar

Ziglar won this seat on Tuesday afternoon running unopposed in the general election and the primary. Ziglar formerly served as an assistant public defender and was also an adjunct professor at Winston-Salem State University.

NC District Court District 31 Seat 7

WINNER: D – Carrie Vickery

Vickery won this seat on Tuesday afternoon running unopposed in the general election and the primary. Vickery was first elected to district court in 2016.

NC District Court District 31 Seat 8

WINNER: D – Whit Davis

Davis won this seat on Tuesday afternoon running unopposed in the general election and the primary. Davis was first elected to the seat in 2020 after beating Republican Mike Silver by less than 10 percentage points.

NC District Court District 31 Seat 9

WINNER: D – Kristin Kelly Broyles

Broyles won this seat on Tuesday afternoon running unopposed in the general election and the primary. Broyles was first elected to district court in 2022.

NC District Court District 31 Seat 10

WINNER: D – Shonna Alexander

R – Erin Brock

In the race for one of the few contested judicial seats in Forsyth County, Democrat Shonna Alexander won over Republican Erin Brock. As of 11:30 p.m., Alexander had 53.5 percent of the vote to Brock’s 46.5 percent with more than 90 percent of precincts reporting in.

NC District Court District 31 Seat 11

WINNER: R – David E. Sipprell

Sipprell won this seat on Tuesday afternoon running unopposed in the general election and the primary. Sipprell formerly worked as an assistant district attorney. He was elected to the 21^st judicial district in 2012.