May 1, 2012

There are two primaries on the nonpartisan May 8 ballot that deal with Mecklenburt District Court judges.

For the seat now held by John Totten, four candidates, including Totten, are running. Three of the four addressed the Tuesday Morning Breakfast Forum today.

For the seat now held by the retiring Thomas F. Moore Jr., five candidates are running. Four of those five addressed the Forum Tuesday.

At Forum presider Natheley McElrath's request, Ben Thalheimer opened the Forum with a primer on what role the District Courts play in North Carolina's tiers of civil and criminal courts. Thalheimer is a former judge, and is running in this primary for the Totten seat. A video of Thalheimer's primer begins the videos below.

After the primer are the introductory statements of each of the candidates present. They are displayed in the order in which they were delivered, with Totten first and Rod Wright last.

Viewers unaccustomed to assessing judge candidates should be reminded that there are strict limits in state law on what judges can say about themselves and their views during electoral campaigns.

Primer on District Courts

Totten seat introductory statements

John Totten

Kary Church Watson

Ben Thalheimer

Moore seat introductory statements

T.C. Romain

Cam Scott

Gary Henderson

Rod Wright

Questions