Alamance County district court judge Bryan Ray has announced his intention to seek election to a full, four-year term on the district court bench in 2026.
Ray, a Republican, was elected to a partial term on the district court bench in November 2024. He defeated Democrat R. Bryan Norris, Jr. by a margin of 53 percent to 47 percent, in the race to complete the remaining term of longtime former district court judge Brad Allen, Sr., a Democrat.
Gov. Roy Cooper, a Democrat, initially appointed Norris, a second-generation attorney from Burlington, in April 2024 to fill the vacancy that emerged following Allen’s resignation early last year until an election could be held.
The four-year term will appear on the 2026 ballot.
Prior to his elevation to the district court bench, Ray had been a partner in the Doby & Ray law firm in downtown Graham, where he specialized in family law and represented defendants in criminal and civil cases.
A native of Burlington, Ray, 38, graduated from Williams High School in 2005 and went on to earn a bachelor’s degree in Political Science from UNC-Greensboro in 2009 and a J.D. from Elon University’s law school in 2013.
Ray later served as a member of Alamance County’s Board of Elections from 2018 until 2024; and as a board member for Alamance County Juvenile Crime Prevention; volunteered with the Alamance County Teen Court and the LINKS foster program; and taught a Sunday School class for Trailhead Church.
He and his wife, Caroline, have two daughters and live in Elon.
