Another of the State-Wide Court of Appeals Candidates You Need to Know

Democrat Toby Hampson is running for an open seat on the NC Court of Appeals. Judge Ann Calabria (R) is not running for reelection.

Hampson is a Moore County boy who was plucked out for advanced studies during high school at the North Carolina School of Science and Math in Durham in 1994. He went on to earn his law degree in 2002 from Campbell University with multiple honors including a seat on the Law Review. He began his career at the North Carolina Court of Appeals clerking for judges K. Edward Greene, Wanda Bryant, and Bob C. Hunter. He then practiced with Patterson Dilthey in Raleigh focusing on trial and appellate litigation before joining Wyrick, Robbins, Yates & Ponton in Raleigh in 2007, where he now leads the firm’s Appellate Practice group as a full partner.

So he's massively qualified for a seat on that appellate bench. He was named one of the "Top 100 Super Lawyers in North Carolina" (2015, 2017, 2018) by Super Lawyers Magazine. He was a top-rated appellate attorney by North Carolina Super Lawyers -- recognized in Appellate Practice (2014-2018) and as a “Rising Star” (2010, 2011, 2012, 2013). He is recognized as "Legal Elite" in the area of appellate law (2018) and "Young Guns" (2010, 2012) by Business North Carolina magazine. 

He's married to another lawyer, Kristin, and they have three little girls.

The two Republicans in this race are Sandra Ray and Jefferson Griffin. Sandra Ray is a single mother of three, a district court judge in New Hanover and Pender counties, and she's not endorsed by the NCGOP -- which anointed the other Republican, Jefferson Griffin, for the seat. Griffin is a Wake County District Court judge. Neither he nor Sandra Ray have qualifications anywhere near Toby Hampson's.

The Other State-Wide Judicial Race With Two Republicans Running

NC Court of Appeals, Calabria seat:

On June 13, Wake County District Court Judge Jefferson Griffin won the endorsement of the NCGOP for the Calabria seat on the NC Court of Appeals. He's been running for a solid year.

Sandra Alice Ray, second from left,
with her three children

On June 25th, near the end of the filing period, Sandra Alice Ray, Republican, also filed for the Calabria seat. (And, if you've been paying attention here, ditto the elimination of judicial primaries this year, so there are two Republicans and one Democrat running for the Calabria seat.)

Sandra Alice Ray is not endorsed by the NCGOP. She's a District Court Judge, first elected in 2004, and she's apparently always been a Republican. She's a graduate of NC State University and the Campbell University School of Law. A single mother, she has specialized in juvenile justice in Pender County.

She has both a website, and a Facebook page. She joined Twitter in April.


Who's the Democrat in the Race?

Toby (Tobias) Hampson is the lead attorney in Wyrick Robbins' Appellate Litigation Practice Group. Wyrick Robbins is a large Raleigh firm specializing in the growth of entrepreneurial businesses.

Hampson is a North Carolina State Bar Certified Legal Specialist in Appellate Practice with extensive experience in appellate litigation, particularly in the North Carolina Court of Appeals (the court he is running to join) and the North Carolina Supreme Court "in all areas of the law."

He's a 1994 graduate of the North Carolina School of Science and Math in Durham, earned his BA

Toby Hampson

from American University School of International Service, and graduated from the Campbell University School of Law in 2002. He currently serves on Campbell Law’s Board of Visitors. He clerked for three different NC Court of Appeals judges, so he knows the appellate level of legal practice very well. He certainly appears to be the most qualified of the three candidates running.

He has a website and a Facebook group.