2022 NCAJ PAC Judicial Endorsements

The NCAJ PAC Trustees represent a diverse group of NCAJ members in gender, race, age, practice location, practice area, section membership, and political affiliation. In July, the NCAJ PAC Trustees met to consider endorsements in statewide judicial races on the November 8, 2022 ballot.

Following a rigorous and in-depth analysis of the candidates which is detailed below, the NCAJ PAC believes these candidates merit support in the upcoming election, and will be making further efforts to promote the endorsements and empower NCAJ members to communicate with clients, friends and family in support of these endorsements. 

Decision Process

A PAC process was developed as part of the NCAJ Advocacy Strategic Plan to provide a more defined structure for trustee decision making.

Although trustees are strictly prohibited from discussing deliberations pursuant to confidentiality requirements contained in the PAC bylaws, the PAC is allowed to share that the following structural factors provided by the PAC process were considered:

• A written analysis of opinions by each candidate with an appellate record was performed and considered;
• All feedback submitted through a survey of all NCAJ members, as well as any direct feedback from members to trustees via email or phone, was presented in written form and considered by trustees;
• Where possible, NCAJ members in a candidate’s district were interviewed in an effort to learn more about a candidate’s temperament, reputation, and standing in the local bar;
• All 12 judicial candidates were interviewed over two full days in July;
• Any material provided by the candidates themselves during the interviews was retained and considered during the PAC meeting;
• Publicly available information about candidates, including information candidates provided on their websites or public positions stated by candidates, was reviewed and considered;
• Trustees considered the candidates relative to alignment with NCAJ’s Advocacy Mission Statement;
• Trustees considered a candidate’s status as a former or current NCAJ member;
• Trustees considered candidate diversity;
• Trustees considered a candidate’s prior work experience as a practicing attorney and/or as judge at the District or Superior Court trial level.