Jackson (D) v. Stading (R) for the NC Court of Appeals

 

PamsPicks evaluates the final statewide judge race.

NC Court of Appeals Judge, Seat 11

NOTE: You may vote for one. Candidates are presented below in the order they appear on your ballot.

Reason for my Endorsement: Decent man and fair Judge with a reliable progressive history v. Phil Berger’s Boy.

Darren Jackson, Democrat

https://www.judgedarrenjackson.com

https://www.facebook.com/JudgeDarrenJackson

https://twitter.com/intent/follow?screen_name=jacksonfornc

Jackson is running for a full 8-year term on the court after being appointed to this vacant seat in December of 2020. He’s a native of eastern Wake County. He rose to prominence in the NC House, where he was first elected to a Wake County seat in 2008 and was elevated to House Minority Leader in 2016. He was serving as Minority Leader when Gov. Cooper appointed him to the court.

Jackson earned his B.A. in political science from UNC-Chapel Hill in 1993 and got his law degree from Duke University and passed the bar in 1996. Jackson practiced law in Zebulon with Gay & Stroud. When Donna Stroud left to serve on the bench in 2004, the firm became Gay & Jackson. His small-town general practice focused on residential real estate and civil litigation.

After the disappointing performance of NC House Democratic candidates in the 2020 elections, Jackson announced that he would not be seeking to return to his minority leadership post: “I do take responsibility, of course, for us not picking up seats,” he said. “We’ve got a lot of leaders in our caucus, and it’s time to give somebody else a chance.”

Jackson’s endorsements include, among others, the North Carolina Association of Educators, the NC AFL-CIO, the North Carolina Association of Women Attorneys, North Carolina Advocates for Justice, The People’s Alliance, and the Sierra Club.

Michael J. Stading, Republican

https://www.michaelstading.com

https://www.facebook.com/michael.j.stading

https://mobile.twitter.com/michaeljstading

Stading is a former Mecklenburg County prosecutor and currently a district court judge. He served as a JAG officer for the Air Force and is still in the Air Force Reserve. He earned his degree from Campbell University Law School.

Stading has raised record amounts of money for a judgeship candidate, and he’s not been cautious about campaigning with Republican Senate candidate Ted Budd. Indeed, he’s been endorsed by some of the most conservative voices in the NCGOP, including jerk Congressman Dan Bishop and loose cannon Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson.

Stading says he’s “proud to be running for the Court of Appeals alongside #TheRightJudges,” and blows a consistent dog whistle of “uphold the Constitution, defend law & order, and protect American values.”

Even the ultra-conservative Daily Haymaker claimed (without explanation) that Stading is “a puppet for the Raleigh special interests.”What special interests was left unsaid.

Did Bloomberg Buy You?

We received three pieces of mail from Mike Bloomberg at our house yesterday:

1 of 3 Bloomberg mail pieces
we received yesterday

1. A fancy, unfolding, 5-panel contraption in heavy cardstock and full color with each fold teased by a "WE WANT" headline, as though we are children clamoring at the ice cream truck. Don't worry. The rich man will give us sweets. (The photo here doesn't really do it justice -- especially the expense of producing a mailer like this.)

2. A one-page letter in a No. 10 envelope purporting to be a personal letter to us from Mike Bloomberg in which he mainly evokes 9/11 and reassures us -- though usually letters like this from candidates are asking for money -- he doesn't want a dime from us. Not one dime.

3. An oversize, glossy, folded flyer whose main pitch is anti-NRA.

Okay, we get it. The billionaire can waste this much money on voters who've already voted early in the North Carolina primary. He can't buy us but he sure as hell can bury us in paper.

But is he buying others, particularly elected Democratic office-holders who've been piling into the Bloomberg limo at a depressing clip? Vy Liles, the mayor of Charlotte. Current Raleigh Mayor Mary-Ann Baldwin and former Raleigh mayors Charles Meeker and Nancy McFarlane. Most recently, the two Democratic leaders in the NC House and Senate, Darren Jackson and Dan Blue. Jeez.

The inevitable and logical question: Did they get the Bloomberg gift bag? What were they promised?

Because Bloomberg himself obviously thinks in terms of buying people like assets. His slip of the tongue during last night's debate was perhaps the most iconic self-identifier we'll ever hear from the ex-mayor. In talking about how he helped about half of the Democrats who won in the midterm elections of 2018, he bragged,

Twenty-one of those are people that I spent a hundred million dollars to help elect. All of the new Democrats that came in and put Nancy Pelosi in charge and gave the Congress the ability to control this president, I bough — I, I got them.

If I were one of the Democratic progressives running for a seat in the NC House or Senate this year, I would be depressed that the Democratic leaders in those chambers had put themselves so publicly in Bloomberg's pocket.