For the first time ever, voters in Alamance County will have an opportunity to weigh in on five district court judgeships when they go to the polls in this fall’s general election.
In the meantime, the results of these contests could also have some bearing on a vacancy that recently emerged in superior court when Tom Lambeth, the county’s former senior resident superior court judge, decided it was time for him to hang up his robe.
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Under state law, the selection of Lambeth’s successor ultimately falls to North Carolina’s governor Roy Cooper – a second term Democrat whose own tenure in office is set to expire in January. Due to the timing of Lambeth’s retirement, which formally began on October 1, state statute stipulates that Cooper’s appointee will remain in office until the next legislative election in 2026 – which is also the point when Lambeth’s seat would’ve naturally come back up for a vote under its own eight-year timetable.
In filling superior court vacancies in Alamance County, Cooper and his predecessors have generally turned to the county’s district court judges to serve as readily-available pool of qualified candidates. In fact, Lambeth was himself a district court judge in 2017 when Cooper elevated him to an opening in superior court that he went on to win outright a year later.
At the moment, Alamance County has four district court judges – all of whom are registered Democrats. Two of them – Doug Green and Bryan Norris – were recently appointed by Cooper to fill vacancies on the district court bench. Norris and Green are currently locked in competitive races against Republicans Craig Turner and Bryan Ray.
Also on the ballot this year are veteran district court judges Katie Overby and Larry Brown, who are both running for their posts unopposed. Meanwhile, another competitive race has bubbled up between Democrat Natalie Jones and Republican Meredith Edwards, the county’s incumbent clerk of superior court, for a fifth district court judgeship that the General Assembly has allotted to Alamance County beginning in 2025.
For a governor in need of an experienced Democrat to raise to superior court, Overby and Brown may seem like logical prospects. Even so, both of these judicial incumbents have assured The Alamance News that they aren’t interested in the vacant position.
When asked if he’ll be seeking Cooper’s nod for Lambeth’s old seat, Brown promptly demurred.
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“No, sir, I’m not going to be seeking any appointment,” the district court judge told a reporter on Tuesday. “Honest, I thank God for the opportunity to serve in district court, and I won’t be seeking an appointment upstairs [in superior court].”
The Alamance News received a similar reply a week earlier from Overby, who currently serves as the county’s chief district court judge.
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“No, I’m not,” she told the newspaper when asked if she’ll seek the governor’s nod, “and I’ve previously shared my decision with [current senior resident superior court] Judge [Andy] Hanford and Judge Lambeth.”
In the case of district court vacancies, state law provides for the local bar association to select up to five nominees to send to the governor for consideration. North Carolina’s state statutes offer no similar nomination process for openings on the superior court bench.
