Judgeship races tend to be relatively quiet because they are technically nonpartisan and candidates are somewhat restricted on campaigning.<\/p>\n
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Karen Tam \/ Raleigh Public Record<\/p>
The new Justice Center Building.<\/p><\/div>\n
Despite being a nonpartisan race, Boyd said the reality is that you can find out if a judge is a member of a particular party. Political parties will work hard to get their particular candidate elected, even if the candidate isn\u2019t officially campaigning alongside the party. Historically speaking, Boyd said, North Carolina judges have always been fairly conservative with their rulings.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m a firm believer that party politics should not interfere in the judicial races,\u201d Rader said, adding that party labels do serve a purpose, but not in these races. \u201cThey are not predictor of how a person is going to perform as a judge.\u201d<\/p>\n
Unlike traditional political candidates, like those running for county commissions or city councils, candidates for judgeships don\u2019t take stances on partisan issues or make campaign promises. The only campaign promise that candidates make, Rader said, is to be fair and impartial in their work.<\/p>\n
The Ideal Candidate<\/strong>
\nRader said most attorneys aspire to be a judge because they feel like they can make a difference.<\/p>\n\u201cIt\u2019s not for the money, I\u2019ll tell you that,\u201d he said with a laugh. As the chief district court judge, Rader makes about $114,000 a year. A starting attorney at a big firm, he said, would make a comparable salary.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey like handling cases at this level because they have a commitment to public service,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Rader said very few people leave the bench after a short period.<\/p>\n
While the ideal judge would have spent time practicing law, \u201cThe reality is all you need is a law degree and a law license in this state and you can be a judge,\u201d Boyd said.<\/p>\n
The average person is likely to appear before district court judges for anything from a speeding ticket to battling over child custody, which is why, \u201cWho those people are and how they rule, are maybe going to affect us more than supreme court justices,\u201d Boyd said.<\/p>\n
While the qualities people seek in a judge are individual and subjective, Boyd said in his opinion an ideal candidate would have extensive experience with the various courts. Administrative experience is also key because much of a judge\u2019s job is running the court and keeping things running smoothly.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think someone who has a good temperament, too,\u201d Boyd said.<\/p>\n
Judges deal with a vast array of people, some of whom are not prepared or do not understand how the court process works.<\/p>\n
For voters who are wondering how to make the best decision, Boyd said his advice is, \u201cGo talk to a lawyer.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
There are 17 judgeships up for grabs in this year\u2019s elections. We give you the lowdown on what these men and women do. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24029,"featured_media":19765,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1552],"tags":[1624],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21318"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24029"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21318"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21318\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19765"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21318"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21318"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21318"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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