Superior court judge Doug Green announces today his intention to seek election to the seat to which he was appointed by then-Gov. Roy Cooper.
Green, a Democrat who was sworn in January 1, 2025, has been filling the remaining two years of the eight-year term of senior resident superior court judge Tom Lambeth, who retired effective October 1, 2024.
In an interview Wednesday, Green, 60, says he plans to run to “keep my seat” on the bench. The full term that will be on the ballot in November 2026 is for eight years.
Green also served as a district court judge during 2024 before he lost his bid for a full term there to Republican Craig Turner, who is now seeking the other superior court judgeship being vacated by Andy Hanford who chose not to seek a second term.
Unlike district court judges who preside in the county where they are elected, superior court judges typically are assigned to adjacent and nearby counties within various regions of the state for six months at a time. Green has spent most of 2025 between Cumberland County (Fayetteville) and Wake County (Raleigh). He will be presiding here in his home county for the first six months of 2026.
Previously, Green served as an assistant attorney general in the North Carolina Department of Justice. Additionally, he worked as an attorney with the Smith Giles law firm in Graham, and as an assistant district attorney in the Alamance County district attorney’s office.
Green, a Williams High School graduate, received his Bachelor of Arts from Duke University, his Masters in Business Administration from Elon University and his Juris Doctor from the North Carolina Central University School of Law.
Green, who grew up in Alamance County, is also well known for his prowess on the football field – first at Williams High School and later at Duke University.
At Williams, he was an honor student and lettered in four sports and was All State in football. He received an athletic scholarship to Duke where he was a standout wide receiver.
Green is married to Julie Dixon-Green, Associate Dean of the Hussman School of Journalism at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill.
