In the fall of 2020, Craig Turner was a divorced father of three with a job at the Fox Rothschild law firm in Greensboro. His law practice was, at the time, devoted to handling complex litigation for large corporate clients – a focus that left him with, perhaps, a glancing awareness of local government affairs in his native Alamance County.
In January of the following year, Turner made a fateful decision to seek an appointment to Alamance County’s board of commissioners to replace the board’s former chairman Amy Scott Galey. The local Republican Party ultimately awarded Turner the post, which Galey had given up to assume a state senate seat she won in 2020 and holds to this day.
Turner’s elevation to the county’s government board set off of chain reaction that continued to have spillover effects even after he was elected to his position outright in November of 2022.
“Since I first got on the board of commissioners, I moved my practice to Alamance County,” Turner recalled in a recent phone conversation. “I formed a relationship with [his now wife] Julie, and we got married last December…My kids have also grown up; they’re driving now, and doing things they weren’t doing then.”
Now, nearly four years after he accepted the GOP’s appointment, Turner has embarked on another life-changing moment thanks to a successful campaign for one of the county’s five district court judgeships.
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Earlier this month, the local electorate raised Turner to a seat that had belonged to Republican Rick Champion until he resigned from the district court bench in 2023 to become the county’s first public defender. The then-county commissioner wrested this position from Democrat Doug Green, who had obtained a gubernatorial appointment to take Champion’s place until this year’s general election.
In order to expedite the selection of his own successor, Turner formally stepped down from the board of commissioners last Wednesday, allowing the GOP’s leadership to convene a special meeting on Saturday to name his replacement. In the meantime, the incoming judge has begun to close out his legal practice at the Vernon law firm in Burlington, where he relocated during his stint as a county commissioner.
“The process involves resolving cases or transferring them to others,” Turner went on to explain. “I purposely was appointed to some criminal district court matters and some juvenile matters so in the event I was elected I would have some experience with them. Now, I have to resolve them [or make other provisions].”
This transitional period isn’t the first time that the 51-year-old former county commissioner has had to clear the decks in preparation for a major life change.
A native of Burlington, Turner made a very literal about face when he enrolled at the U.S. Naval Academy after he graduated from Williams High School in 1991. He went on to serve as a Navy flight officer before he hangared his military career in 2003.
It wasn’t long before Turner switched gears again and enrolled at Elon University’s law school, where obtained his degree in 2010. He went on to serve as a judicial clerk for two judges in the state’s business court before he went to work for a private law firm. He also did a turn as an assistant district attorney in Alamance County before his tenures at Fox Rothschild and, finally, Vernon.
Turner recalled that his time at the Vernon law firm allowed him to bone up on casework that he knew would serve him well if he ever became a district court judge. Although it fell outside of Vernon’s usual remit, he was particularly keen to accumulate some experience in juvenile court.
“The law there is different,” he added, “There are some esoteric pieces of that law. You get into some evidentiary issues that you don’t normally see in criminal court…It was also helpful for me to have some experience with clients who are under 18.”
Turner’s election to the district court bench will also permit him to put a period on his other recent preoccupation as a member of the county’s governing board.
“I have enjoyed being a commissioner,” he said. “But it has been a challenge to manage a law practice and be a county commissioner because they’re both so demanding. Now, I’ll be able to focus on a single job where I’ll be a lawyer and also a public servant.”
The depth of Turner’s contribution to Alamance County’s government was certainly not lost on his fellow commissioners, who gave him a bittersweet sendoff at the end of his final meeting last week.
The moment proved especially trying for commissioner Pam Thompson, who confessed her admiration for Turner’s military service as well as his input during some of the board’s most fractious debates.
“I don’t want you to go,” Thompson said amid barely suppressed sobs. “I don’t know how many times I’ve seen Top Gun because of you, and you’ve been such an ally for me when we’ve fought so hard for the schools.”
The rest of the commissioners may not have been as effusive in their farewells to Turner. But they did make their appreciation known with a commemorative plaque that summed up their debt to the outgoing board member.
Turner, for his part, acknowledged that he had been “annoyed with at least one” off his colleagues during his four years in office. He was nevertheless gracious in his own parting words to the rest of the board.
“I cannot imagine serving with a better group of people,” he declared. “I cherish your friendship, and I honor your service…I also thank the Republican Party for taking a chance on me four years ago, and the citizens who affirmed that with a vote to keep me in this seat. I have tried my best to make the right decision. I may not have made the most popular vote all the time, but I tried to do what was right.”
With his obligations as a commissioner behind him, Turner admits that he finally has time to devote to his wife, Julie, who works as a principal at Turrentine Middle School, as well as the five kids they have between them. This blended family includes Julie’s adult children – Millie and Will, who are 22 and 19 respectively – along with the trio from Turner’s first marriage: 18-year-old Addison, 16-year-old Caroline, and 12-year-old Aaron.
Turner also hopes to indulge in some of the leisure pursuits, such as golf and pickleball, that have been relegated to the backseat by his preoccupations as a commissioners, his legal career, and the strain of two electoral campaigns in two years.
In the meantime, Turner is preparing to set off for Chapel Hill on December 2 to attend “judge school” with the other two newly-elected judges that Alamance County produced in this month’s election. The former commissioner said he has already received a syllabus for this week-long course, which sets aside a day for each major area of study – such as family law, to take one example.
A single day for a subject as complex as family law may seem a bit cursory to some. But Turner insists he isn’t worried about being underprepared when he takes his seat on the district court bench at the beginning of January.
“I’ve been a practicing attorney for 14 years,” he pointed out. “So, I’m not exactly going into it cold. I think I’ll be ready.”
