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Hello everyone, for the last few months I have been creating long form write-ups on a variety of unsolved cases. If you are interested in other lengthy write ups you can find them on my profile- https://www.reddit.com/useQuirky-Moto.
Months ago, I was asked to cover the inexplicable case of Judy Smith, a woman who went missing from Philadelphia or perhaps Massachusetts, only for her body to be found in North Carolina months later. The case was famously covered on the show Unsolved Mysteries, and it is strange enough to warrant a long, hard look at the case and a comprehensive timeline. I hope you are able to learn something new about this semi well-known case.
Background
Judy Smith was born Judith Eldridge in Massachusetts in 1946. Right out of high school Judy married for the first time. Her husband and she had been married very shortly when in an attemot to avoid the draft, he fled to Sweden. Judy went in search of her young husband but soon returned to the states empty handed and filed for divorce. Years later, Judy married Charles Bradford a man who worked in the racehorse industry. They had two children together, Craig and Amy, but unfortunately the marriage did not last and soon Judy found herself jobless and raising two children by herself. Rather than fret, Judy got a job and enrolled in nursing school. Judy was known to study in all of her free time and soon became a successful home health care nurse. In 1986 at age 40, Judy was caring for a man who was recovering from throat surgery when she met her patient’s son, a well to do lawyer named Jeffrey Smith. Jeffrey said he was impressed by how Judy cared for his father and asked her on a date. Judy and Jeff had several things in common, both had been divorced single parents who raised children alone, and Jeffrey worked in healthcare as well, except he was a lawyer. The couple both enjoyed going to plays and Celtics basketball games. After seven years together, Jeff and Judy moved in together and three years later the couple married in Nov., 1996.
According to friends and family, Judy was a rather assertive and independent person. She was no stranger to travelling alone. Judy had been to Europe on her own a few times, and when her children were pre-teens, she took them to Europe for a backpacking adventure. Judy also independently traveled to Thailand where she went hiking and visited friends. While Judy wasn’t the epitome of fitness, she was an active person who enjoyed walking, hiking, and sightseeing. She was also known to be a go-getter who once helped an AIDS patient who was having a medical crisis on a plane. So, while Judy was kindhearted and considerate, she wasn’t thought to be naive and was able to take care of herself in a variety of different situations.
The disappearance
Five months into her new marriage on April 9th 1997, Jeffrey prepared to attend a conference in Philadelphia that was taking place from Wednesday April 9th-Friday April 11th at the Double Tree hotel in downtown Philadelphia. Judy decided to accompany her husband to Philadelphia and planned to do some sightseeing in the area. Afterwards, the Smiths were going to New Jersey to spend the weekend with some friends before flying back home.
On April 9th in the morning, Judy accompanied her husband to Logan International Airport to fly to Philadelphia, but discovered at the gate that she could not board as she did not have her photo ID. Judy encouraged Jeffrey to take the 1:30 pm flight and assured him that she would take a flight later that day and meet him in Philadelphia. According to relatives, the Smiths took public transport to the airport and Judy apparently took the bus back home and retrieved her ID. Jeffrey flew to the conference while Judy returned home and booked a flight for later that day. Judy boarded a 7:30 pm flight and arrived at the hotel in Philadelphia at approximately 9:30 pm.
Once at the hotel, the couple purchased some snacks and went to bed. The next morning Jeffrey awoke and ate breakfast at the complimentary buffet downstairs while his wife was still asleep. When he returned to the room Judy was in the shower. The two talked about several things, and Judy explained that she planned on taking the PHLASH bus in order to see the famous sights such as the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall. The Smiths planned on meeting up at the hotel in the evening to attend the conference’s 6 pm cocktail party together. With that squared away, Jeffrey attended the conference. Sometime in between 9 and 10 am a hotel concierge recalled seeing a woman matching Judy’s description ask how to get to the PHLASH bus stop. The woman was in her 50s, with shortish hair, wearing a dark colored coat, blue jeans, and white tennis shoes, carrying a bright red backpack. (Picture of the Judy wearing the backpack here).
At approximately 5:30 pm Jeffrey who was done with the day’s sessions returned to the hotel room expecting to find Judy waiting for him. Judy wasn’t there, so Jeffrey attended the cocktail hour in the hopes his wife was already visiting at the party, but she wasn’t there either. For the next 45 minutes, Jeffrey floated between the room and the party hoping to find Judy. At approximately 6:15 pm Jeffrey told the concierges that his wife had not returned from sightseeing and the hotel staff began calling local hospitals. At 6:30 pm, Jeffrey hopped in a taxi and instructed the driver to take the PHLASH bus route slowly so he could look for his wife. In one interview Jeffrey recalled that he made the driver go so slow it angered those stuck behind him. After a few hours without any sign of Judy, Smith called the police to report his wife missing. Shockingly, the PPD told Jeffrey that he couldn’t file a report until it had been twenty-four hours since the last final sighting of Judy. After lodging some complaints with some high-ranking officials within the city, a missing person’s report was taken for Judy Smith on the morning of April 11th, 1997 (Lewis, 1997).
Jeffrey called his step children and asked them to check the house in case Judy had gone home, and he also asked that they would check the answering machine, but there were no messages of note and the house was empty.
A check of the hotel room showed that Judy had left with her signature red backpack, her wallet, the jewelry she normally wore including a diamond engagement band and a simple silver wedding ring, and the clothes on her back. Jeffrey estimated that she had approximately $200 dollars with her at the time.
According to later interviews with Philadelphia investigators, Judy, or someone with her name did in fact buy a USair ticket on the 7:30 pm flight into Philadelphia. Her ticket was used to make the flight and her seat was occupied on the flight into Philadelphia (Justiceforjudy.org). At the time of the Smiths’ trip, regulations that required photo identification to board a plane had only been in effect for 18 months and Judy had flown only one other time during that time frame. Additionally, police have a luggage tag from Judy’s suitcase that showed that she took the 7:30 pm flight, and that her bag did not travel to Philadelphia with Jeffrey earlier in the day (AP, Oct 4th, 1997).
Sightings
As news of Judy’s disappearance spread, many people called the police station to report various sightings of Judy.
One PHLASH driver remembered picking up Judy in the early afternoon at Front and South streets, a stop near the Double Tree.
There was also a reported sighting of Judy entering the Greyhound bus station at 11th and Filbert sometime in the early afternoon. This station is a common place for tourists to use the bathroom and is only a 10-minute walk to the DoubleTree hotel. One report claims Judy was seen entering and then exiting the station but most reports mention only entering the station. This area was close to Philadelphia’s Chinatown and Jeffrey speculated that Judy may have gone to Chinatown for lunch as she loved both Chinese and Thai food, but no restaurant owners remembered seeing Judy that day.
There was yet another sighting of a woman who looked like Judy at around 3 pm near the hotel; witnesses claimed this woman seemed disoriented.
A number of sightings were reported over the next few days in the waterfront area of the city called Penn’s Landing. A variety of people claimed to have seen Judy. Some witnesses said she seemed confused or dazed. Judy’s two children, her son in law Jay, and Jeffrey looked into these sightings and discovered that there was a homeless woman in the area who looked strikingly similar to Judy and it is believed that many witnesses saw this woman rather than Judy Smith. This local resident looked so similar to Judy that at one point Judy’s son Craig crossed the street thinking he had discovered his mother, only for it to be the other woman. Police officers and volunteers stopped this woman a number of times as well.
One transient in the area, a man named David, was insistent that he saw Judy, not the other woman, on the night of April 10th in the Penn’s landing area, either resting or sleeping on the bench. He was insistent it was Judy, and not the other woman as he knew the other woman from the neighborhood. Judy’s son believes this story is credible as David was coherent and very willing to be interviewed, even though there was nothing to be gained from his testimony and he was simply happy to help the family. He also identifed Judy from a collection of photos, something many other witnesses were unable to do.
On April 11th an employee at a Macy’s department store in Deptford, New Jersey believed that she interacted with Judy Smith in the morning on that day. She described the clothes Judy wore, right down to the old red backpack. This shopper told the employee, that she was buying some dresses for her daughter but laughed because her daughter often disliked the pieces that she purchased for her. Judy’s family confirmed that this was acurate and affirmed that Judy sometimes shopped at Macy’s. The customer appeared to be slightly disoriented as she asked a young woman in the store to leave with her, thinking that the other customer was her daughter or a someone else she knew. One report says that Judy asked another customer in the store about menopause, a very odd subject to talk about, especially with someone you don’t know in a department store.
This mall complex was in Deptford, New Jersey, a bus ride away from Philadelphia, across the Delaware River. According to newspaper reports, NJ Transit Buses had routes which traveled from downtown Philly to Deptford hourly, and the stop was very close to the mall the sighting took place at, meaning it was possible for Judy to have boarded the bus and ended up in Deptford quite easily. Unfortunately, the Macy’s didn’t have security footage which showed this customer and the woman paid for her purchases in cash.
After a second story ran in the newspaper on April 14th, a variety of other witnesses came forward with stories. The most famous report came from a Society Hill hotel employee who explained that a woman who matched Judy’s description stayed in the hotel from April 13th-15th. The woman appeared to have psychiatric problems and did a variety of strange things during her stay such as touch herself very noticeably in front of the window (it’s unknown if this was in her room or in the lobby), speak in tongues, and finally claimed that “the emperor” would help her pay for her stay at the hotel. This wacky guest was remembered by several employees including the hotel manager, a woman named Abby Gainer, who alerted the police. The strange guest told the employees that she wanted to stay at the hotel for another night but didn’t have the funds to do so. She later said she would get the money via a Western Union wire transfer from “the emperor” (Altman, 1997).
The nearby Best Western Hotel had a similar situation with a similar woman. Concierge Tyrone Taylor remembered that on the 15th, a woman matching this description entered the hotel to use the telephone in the late afternoon. The woman was speaking loudly and said that “the emperor of China” was going to pay for her stay as she did not have the cash to pay for a night at the hotel. Taylor reported that the woman was well dressed and did not appear to be a transient. Both hotel employees reported that the woman was a heavyset blonde in her 50s, wearing heavy dark makeup, eye glasses with tape on the side, and nicer clothes. Gainer reported the woman was sporting an expensive looking scarf with camels and roses on it. The woman, who signed in as "H. K. Rich/Collins," did not have any luggage with her and was wearing very different clothes than Judy was last seen in. When Taylor called the police to report his sighting, he gave the strange guest a call (she must have left a telephone number) and told her she could have a free night at the hotel. She arrived at the Best Western but police decided that the woman was not Judy Smith (Altman, 1997). The hotel sightings were nothing more than a red herring. Over the next few months various sightings were reported but none seemed to pan out. Many of the sightings were believed to be other people who looked like Judy. After all history has shown that false eyewitness sightings are incredibly common in cases of missing persons.
Philadelphia PD’s investigation
Philadelphia PD launched an inquiry into the disappearance of Judy Smith on April 11th, 1997. Jeffrey tried to report Judy as missing in the late evening hours of April 10th, but the police told him to wait 24 hours. Smith, however, was a well-connected man and after a few complaints to both a Pennsylvania state representative and the mayor (both men were attorneys and knew Jeffrey from previous work functions), Jeffrey was able to file a report in the early morning hours of the 11th. The Smith family made and hung flyers in the area. Judy’s children joined the search and followed up on sightings around the tourist areas of Philly. Police interviewed Jeffrey, Judy’s children, and others in order to retrace Judy’s last steps. Judy left behind her passport at her home in Massachusetts meaning she could not have easily left the county. The Smith’s two landline records were checked but nothing out of the ordinary was found.
After interviews and searches of the area, Philadelphia PD announced that they believed Judy had never made it to Pennsylvania at all and speculated that Judy went missing from the Boston area. This speculation was based on a couple of things.
First, investigators did not believe Jeffrey’s story that Judy couldn’t catch the flight due to a lack of photo ID. Police thought that this story was odd and did not believe a seasoned traveler like Judy would forget her license at home before heading to the airport.
Later investigation showed that someone named Judith Smith took a 7:30pm flight into Philadelphia and flight manifest showed that the ticket was used to make the flight that evening, however, the entire incident is still odd to many amateur sleuths and professional investigators.
Another detective thought it was odd that while Judy had clothes and belongings in the hotel room, she didn’t have any cosmetics with her. Further, detectives noticed that there were few soiled items of clothing in the room meaning that if Judy was in Philadelphia on the 10th, she wore the same jeans and coat that she was wearing the night before. Judy’s children reported that this wasn’t uncommon for their mother as she wasn’t a frilly person. They also said that their mother only wore makeup on occasion and not while traveling so these things didn’t seem out of the ordinary to them. (Personally, I have also wondered if Judy did have some makeup, but it was in her backpack at time. I know plenty of women who don’t wear much makeup, but if you looked in their purse or bag you might find some lip stick or powder.)
Investigators went on to say that no one but Jeffrey could place Judy in Philadelphia during this time frame. This announcement resulted in several eyewitnesses who claimed that they had seen Judy at the hotel. One receptionist from the hotel claimed that on April 9th in between 9-10 pm, she saw Judy arrive at the hotel and greet her husband in the lobby. She said that Jeffrey gave Judy flowers and the two appeared to be apologizing to each other. (Jeffrey said this was the case except Judy gave him the flowers). One concierge remembered a woman in her 50s with a coat and old red backpack ask him how to get to the PHLASH bus stop at around 10 am on April 10th. He knew it was after 9 am because that is when his shift started. Finally, a conference goer named Carmen Catazone, who was sitting in the lobby also recalled the flower incident from the night before. The woman did not know Jeffrey personally, but recognized him from the conference. Jeffrey was a moderator for a variety of sessions and was very overweight so he was easily recognizable. These witness’ accounts seem to line up with Jeffrey’s story. As far as I can tell the flower story had not been released to the press at this point.
Finally, Philadelphia PD divulged that Jeffrey wasn’t fully cooperative, as he wouldn’t submit to a polygraph. Jeffrey denies this and said that as a lawyer he knew that polygraphs are fallible. Further, he claims that he was willing to take a lie detector if it was given by an outside agency such as the FBI, but Philadelphia police declined this scenario. These are the four reasons investigators used in order to prop up their theory that Judy wasn’t in Philadelphia at all. Despite witness sightings, this theory is a popular on online to this day.
Aftermath and Discovery
After several weeks Jeffrey returned to the Boston area and tried to resume his normal life. He drastically cut back his hours at the office reporting that he could not focus on his work. Smith attempted to keep his wife’s case in the spotlight doing interviews whenever he could and eventually landing a spot on the show Unsolved Mysteries. On the show, one friend of the couple called the marriage “tenuous” but modern articles on the case mention that the police could find no one who reported concerns like these about the couples’ relationship. In independent interviews Judy’s adult children denied witnessing any warning signs in their mother’s new marriage. Eventually, Jeffrey hired three private investigators to look for Judy. The PIs faxed over 9,000 missing posters to police departments and hospitals all over the country hoping that someone would recognize Judy.
Five months after her disappearance in September 1997, a man and his son were hunting in the Pisgah National Forest near Candler, North Carolina, a short drive from the city of Asheville. On a steep incline one-quarter mile from a picnic area, which itself was a mile from hike from the nearest parking area, the duo found what appeared to be a human bone. They alerted the police who responded to the scene. Over an area approximately 300 feet in diameter, investigators found most of a human skeleton which had been wrapped in a blue blanket and buried in a very shallow grave. Scavenging animals had dug up the skeleton and a few bones had been carried away. The skeleton was determined to be female. The woman was dressed in thermal underwear under her jeans, hiking boots, socks, a t-shirt, a bra and a jacket. Nearby in two different holes, a blue vinyl backpack and a men’s shirt had been buried. The backpack contained some winter clothing and 80 dollars. The shirt contained a pair of $110 Bolle brand sunglasses, as well an additional $87. A paperback mystery novel was also found nearby. She carried no ID. The slope where the body was discovered was near some hiking trails, but the hill itself was steep and at an elevation of 4,000 feet, the search was difficult. The incline was so severe that one investigator crushed his sciatic nerve attempting to search the area, an injury which required major surgery.
Early coverage of the body’s discovery in the Asheville Citizen Times, initially reported that the police found a body belonging to a woman who they believed to be in her 20s dressed in hiking clothes (Ball, 1997). Several days later, the medical examiner assessed the bones and concluded that the skeleton was that of white woman in her 40s or 50s, who was about 5’3” tall with shortish light brown hair. There were cut marks in the woman’s bra and t-shirt which indicated that she had been stabbed in the chest area, however, no cause of death could be determined. Some reports mention that there was trauma to the woman’s ribs. The decedent also had a severely arthritic right knee (some reports say it was her left knee), extensive fillings and dental work in her molars, and some animal hair on her shirt, which may have been horse hair. The woman did not seem to be a transient due to her nice clothes and dental work. The death was ruled a homicide as the woman had been wrapped in a blanket post mortem and buried. The ME determined that the body had been there for 1-2 years prior. For several weeks the skeleton remained nameless in the ME’s office.
On September 9th, a small blurb about the unidentified body ran in an Asheville, North Carolina paper. 65 miles away in Franklin, NC, an ER physician named Parker Davis was looking at missing poster which had been faxed to the hospital he worked at when he noticed that the woman on the poster had a severely arthritic knee. He remembered the story of the skeleton from the paper who had a similar knee problem. On a whim he called the police who were able to get a copy of Judy’s missing poster. After a preliminary check, the ME contacted Jeffrey in order to obtain a copy of Judy’s dental records. The records were a match, and by the end of September 1997, Judy had her name back. Friends and family were also able to identify Judy’s diamond engagement band with a pear-shaped stone and wedding ring which had been found on or near the body. Some early reports say that the woman had no jewelry and that Judy’s wedding ring was missing, but later reports say that it was found near the body. The area of the burial was searched on at least three occasions so it is possible the rings were not found until later. Missing was Judy’s wallet, red backpack, and some jewelry that she typically wore (it’s unclear what jewelry this is referring to). The coat she was last seen wearing was nowhere to be found and the clothes she was dressed in, as well as those in the backpack were unable to be identified by family or friends. The shirt buried nearby was a men’s shirt and was believed to belong to the killer, not Judy. Furthermore, the sunglasses did not appear to be Judy’s as Judy’s kids said she wasn’t the type to spend over $100 on sunglasses. The sunglasses are an athletic style and to me look like men’s or unisex sport sunglasses.
Buncombe County Investigation
Buncombe County Sheriff’s Department took over the case from the PPD after Judy’s identification. Once it was determined that Judy was the woman in the woods, several residents in and around Asheville reported that they had seen Judy or had interacted with her in the April shortly after she was last seen in Philadelphia. For example, one woman thought Judy had stayed at her hotel from April 10th-12th, one woman who worked at a souvenir shop near the Biltmore house (a tourist attraction near Asheville) thought that she spoke to Judy who said she was from Boston and that her husband was a lawyer. Another woman who worked in a store recalled that Judy with her red backpack. She claims that Judy bought a toy truck and approximately $30 worth of sandwiches. There were two other sightings of a person resembling Judy in the area in a gray sedan. One person claimed to have seen Judy near the Pisgah National Forest in a gray sedan chock full of stuff. This witness said that the woman was looking for a place to camp. Another person saw a woman in a gray sedan in the same area. All sightings occurred in the week or so after Judy was last seen in Philadelphia. Of course, it goes without saying that, eyewitness testimony can be unreliable and the human mind is susceptible to suggestion.
North Carolina investigators traveled to Philadelphia to retrace Judy’s steps. They have said that they don’t believe that PPD did a poor job but simply wanted to cover their bases. Two detectives flew to Philadelphia and determined that Judy probably been there at least briefly before traveling to the Pisgah National Forest. They reported that there was no indication that Judy had been abducted or otherwise forced to travel south. It appeared she at least started the journey of her own volition. In all the sightings of Judy in North Carolina, she was alone.
Buncombe county deputies were able to rule out Jeffrey as a suspect rather quickly, although they concede that anything is possible and Jeffrey could be involved however unlikely it seems. Jeffrey was ruled out based on his size and health. Jeffrey was a morbidly obese man who investigators noted began huffing and puffing when walking quickly or climbing stairs. Because of this they did not believe Jeffrey could have disposed of his wife’s body especially in such an inaccessible area of the forest. Furthermore, they could find no evidence that Jeffrey rented a car in Philadelphia adding to the logistical problems with Jeffrey being a suspect. On top of his lack of car, Jeffrey had less than 12 hours to dispose of Judy’s body as he was seen in the lobby of the hotel at 9:30 pm, and then was moderating a session of the conference at 9:30 am. Driving to the Pisgah National Forest from Philadelphia takes approximately nine hours one way meaning he did not have time to kill and dispose of his wife. One podcast on the case mentions that police could find no large withdrawals of money from the Smith’s accounts which could have indicated the hiring of a hit man or a paid accomplice. (I could find no other corroboration of this claim so take this with a grain of salt.) Jeffrey also kept his wife’s case in the spotlight and suffered many hardships in the wake of his wife’s disappearance. Besides the one woman who was interviewed on Unsolved Mysteries, no other friends or family reported that there were issues in marriage that they were aware of.
Philadelphia police also struggled with Jeffrey’s size as carrying and disposing of a dead body is quite taxing and it is doubtful that Jeffrey could have done this on his own. However, they say that Jeffrey is still as suspect as he could have killed his wife in Boston or had an accomplice.
With the most obvious suspect cleared, investigators moved on to other lines of inquiry. They searched the surrounding areas hoping to find people who had seen Judy which is how the discovery of the woman in the gray car was made. Police also searched a nearby horse farm as Judy was known to like horses and had what could have been horse hair on her body, but nothing definitive was found.
Other information

Philadelphia investigators looked at the Smith’s phone records and determined that there was no unusual activity on either of their phone lines that would indicate that either of the Smiths were having affairs. Neither Jeffrey or Judy had cell phones. If Judy was having an affair at the time, none of her friends could provide any insight or speculate as to who it was. There was a computer in the house which was searched, but it is unknown if the computer was connected to the internet.
When Judy went missing Jeffrey believed that she had approximately $200 on her person. About $500 dollars in cash was found among Judy’s things in the hotel room. Judy also disappeared with her ID, her credit card, and her phone card. To this day, there has been no activity on either card.
Judy’s description varies from source to source. Some sources report that she was “heavy set” or “top heavy”. Others say she was 130 or 140 lbs., which is more average size for a 5’2” woman. In some pictures Judy looks to be of a larger build, but in some photos, she appears smaller. Whether these weights were a misprint or Judy was someone whose weight fluctuated regularly is unclear. It is not a very important detail but it is a discrepancy I wanted to point out.
Judy had been to North Carolina only once and had no connection to the area. She had once been to Raleigh to visit Jeffrey who was at a weight loss clinic. Jeffrey said that he loved the area and thought about moving, but the couple never returned to the state. Family also said that Judy had once traveled to Tennessee or another nearby state with a former patient but that had been years earlier.
Judy Smith is also the name of a famous "Crisis Manager." This Judy Smith was the inspiration for the hit show "Scandal" with actress Kerry Washington. This woman is not the same Judy Smith who went missing in 1997.

Suspects
Gary Michael Hilton, sometimes called the national park killer, is a suspect in Judy's disappearance. In 2008 Hilton was arrested for a murder in a national forest and was later linked to three other murders, all of which took place between 2005 and 2008. Hilton, who was in his 50s and 60s at the time, killed hikers in Florida, Georgia, and North Carolina and he is considered a suspect in many other murders in surrounding states such as Arkansas, South Carolina, and Tennessee. Hilton, who loved the outdoors, would often stalk hiking trails, camp sites, and other areas known for outdoor recreation to find victims to terrorize. His crimes were tended to be opportunistic and his motive most often was monetary. Hilton held down a series of jobs from 1997 to 2007 but did not work full time. He was also a drifter who moved from place to place. Hilton usually assaulted and robbed his victims of their wallets, atm cards, cash, and valuables. His victims were male and female, young and old. He seemed to prefer victims who were isolated and alone did not try to find a specific type of person otherwise. One thing that is interesting about Hilton as an offender is that it appears that he did not commit any violent crimes before he was 58 or 59 years old. Hilton has a very long rap sheet but most of his crimes were relatively minor such as possession of marijuana, carrying a pistol without a license, soliciting false donations for charity, carrying a police baton, and DUI. Once arrested several violent incidents that Hilton had been a part of came to light but he had never been convicted of them in the past. Most people agree someone with does not start a life of violent crime in their 60s. Many believe the Gary Michael Hilton has more victims then are currently known.
John and Irene Bryant, an eclectic couple in their 80s, were hiking in the Pisgah National Forest in 2007 when they were attacked by Hilton. Hilton killed Irene, and then kidnapped her husband in order to use their ATM cards and withdraw money before killing John as well. Irene's body was left only miles from where Judy's body was found 10 years earlier. This is one of the most convincing pieces of evidence that Hilton may have been involved in Judy's murder as well. However, it is important to note that Judy was not robbed and Hilton did not bury any of his known victims. Judy's murder also took place 10 years before any Hilton's other murders. Some blogs or more unofficial sources on the case mentioned that Hilton was believed to be in Georgia at the time of Judy's disappearance, but this isn't known for sure. If you are interested in learning more about the crimes of Gary Michael Hilton this reddit post is a really good place to start. This post did a good job of putting it all in one place so thank you u/lisagreenhouse.
Another offender who was in the Asheville area at the time of Judy's disappearance was a young man named Lewis Kyle Wilson. In the early 2000s Wilson was arrested after assaulting and robbing a sex worker he had brought home to his property. There's not a lot of information on Wilson online, but he was living in Asheville and would have been 19 at the time of Judy's disappearance. I cannot find any evidence that Wilson actually killed anyone but he does have a history of violence towards women and was in the area at the time so he is sometimes mentioned online as a possible suspect. One sex worker Wilson was known to frequent was the victim of an unsolved homicide that happened in 2006; Wilson is the prime suspect in that crime.
In 2016, only a couple of miles from Judy's burial site in the Pisgah National Forest, a lone hiker in her 60s was attacked, raped, and left tied to a tree. Thankfully, the woman was found alive and taken to the hospital. Some have wondered if this crime was connected to the Judy Smith homicide but there is no hard evidence of this and the rapist remains unknown.
Theories
Amnesia is one possible explanation for Judy’s disappearance. The family believes that Judy was injured or otherwise suffered a bout of dissociative amnesia which caused her to become confused or forget her identity. This is supported by the sightings of a confused or disoriented Judy in Philadelphia. The family believes this explains why Judy traveled to the Pisgah National Forest apparently of her own free will.
One theory is that Judy and Jeffrey had an argument that spurred an angry Judy to leave the area, whether she left from Boston or Philadelphia. After she left the area and traveled south to North Carolina, she met with foul play.
In a similar vein, some believed Judy willingly traveled to North Carolina to meet up with someone, perhaps a friend or a secret boyfriend. The ID incident at the airport was simply a cover so Judy could converse with this person who she wanted to meet. Once in North Carolina she met with foul play perhaps at the hand of the person she went to meet.
One theory Jeffrey explored was that Judy was suffering from mental illness and had a psychotic break. Being a lawyer, Jeffrey was able with some legal maneuvering to obtain all of Judy’s medical records from her adult life, including a physical she had had only months before hand. There was no indication that Judy had ever had any mental health concerns. Neither she or her doctors ever mentioned anything that would have pointed to any mental health problems, even minor ones such as anxiety. According to Jeffrey, Judy’s newest physical reported that Judy was in good mental and physical health (Lewis, 1997 and Trace Evidence Podcast).
Other sleuths have speculated that Judy traveled to North Carolina because she was questioning her sexuality. Asheville at the time was known for having an LGBT community. This theory is pushed forward by one interview on the Unsolved Mysteries segment as Judy’s friend says, “If you are looking for a mystery man, there wasn’t one.” Some have said that this implied that Judy had met a mystery woman, not a man. However, this theory is full of holes. No friends or family ever had any indication that Judy was questioning her sexuality. Judy had been married to men on three occasions and had other boyfriends as well. This explanation fails to explain why this realization would cause Judy to unexpectedly travel hundreds of miles and cease contact with her children. It also fails to explain who killed Judy.
Others have speculated that Judy was tricked into going to North Carolina. Perhaps she met someone while sightseeing who offered her a ride and that person abducted her or drove her to North Carolina for some reason.
Personally, I have always wondered if Judy was suffering from early onset dementia or Alzheimer’s disease. This would be a similar theory to the psychotic break theory; however, I believe this explains why Judy was described as both disoriented and acting normal in different sightings. I am by no means an expert, but if I understand correctly, patients with these conditions can get very confused and agitated but can also have times of acting completely lucid. I think this theory can explain why Judy forgot her license at home before flying, and can also explain her disappearance. I think it is possible Judy got on the wrong bus and ended up first at the Deptford mall and then eventually North Carolina, simply getting more and more lost each day. Of course, this hypothesis does not solve Judy’s murder, it simply gives an explanation for her travels.
A final theory that is prevalent online is the idea that the doe found in Pisgah National Forest was not Judy at all and was instead misidentified. While this is always possible and something I have entertained from time to time, Judy was matched via dental records, her arthritic knee, and her distinct engagement ring with a pear-shaped stone. If the doe was not Judy, then the mystery becomes even stranger, and now includes the identity and murder of yet another woman. While the odds of a similarly aged woman, with a bad knee, similar dental work, and a plain silver wedding band accompanied with a fancy diamond engagement ring, who was not Judy being murdered in the forest is possible, I believe that it is not very likely. Proponents of this theory point to the ME’s report that the doe had been in the forest for over a year, while Judy had been missing only five months at the time of her discovery.
TO BE CONTINUED...
Full list of sources are in part two- https://unsolved.com/gallery/judy-smith/
link to part 2 https://www.reddit.com/UnresolvedMysteries/comments/kky2l2/when_a_body_is_found_600_miles_away_extensive_two/

Fake names.
TW: Animal and child abuse, eating disorders, mail order wives. I've never spoken at length about my story so prepare for a total dump. Also, here is my sweet baby, Skooma.
So, I'm one of those people who went NC as soon as I possibly could. My dad has suspected BPD and had extremely violent tantrums growing up that extended to his family and pets, going so far to murder a myriad of animals over the years purely by impulse. My mom was an enabler and tends to live in a world of willful ignorance despite getting the worst treatment from my dad. Both of my brothers suffered at his hands, but each of them was the golden child to one of my parents. Abe was my dad's favorite and Roy was my mom's. I was the scapegoat for both parents and both brothers and was significantly younger while they were close in age. Anything that went wrong was my fault and if I dared say otherwise then it would be a crucifixion.
Because of these circumstances, I was isolated. I was beaten by my dad in his fits of rage just the same as my brothers were, but then I would be beaten by them and they were far more ruthless because they were kids themselves and totally unrestrained. Particularly my middle brother, Abe, explicitly said that he was beating me as revenge for the abuse he endured. Oldest brother, Roy, used to defend me from him most of the time and their fights would end up with the police called. Abe called Roy a psychopath for daring to hurt him, as if it was totally unprovoked. He didn't even consider applying that thinking to me because I was, in fact, an object. Because I couldn't defend myself and was an ugly girl (I'm Latin and all the men in my family thought that only asian women were thin enough to be attractive- according to them, ugly women shouldn't even exist), I was the perfect punching bag.
I learned to clam up. Maybe if I became invisible I might not get sought out. I'd hear "my shit is missing- fucking sister did it" from across the house and lock myself in my bathroom because I knew my brother would come for me. He'd unscrew the lock to my bathroom door and beat me in the corner. I was in elementary school, him in high school. When I started locking my bedroom door, he complained to my mom and she took the doorknob off. Why? Golden child asked her to and I was such a conniving, manipulative, lying little monster to them that they "had to" to "handle me". All of that perception was because my brothers would scapegoat me so often that they were really beginning to believe their own narrative. I was extremely docile, just awkward and socially ruined. I lived my life trying to hide.
Then, the real abuse began. My parents finally divorced and Roy went to college. He disappeared without a trace, the only one who has ever defended me, and my once stay at home mom was now working two jobs and was never home. That left me with Abe.
Abe would run knives along the back of the computer chair and tell me about how pointless life was. Abe was on every drug he could find. Abe would wake up and knock the wind out of me just to get a laugh or because he didn't like me laughing. One day I learned the word "scapegoat" in school and was so shocked by how well it described me that I finally shouted to him "I'm just your scapegoat" one day, in front of my mom. He ran up to me and choked me with both hands telling me how I was using the word out of context and didn't know what it meant. My mom continued doing her makeup.
He would make me make him food, mostly frozen pizzas, then wouldn't let me have any because I was "fat" (I was maybe 10 pounds overweight and a chIld). One day I placed the cooked pizza on the kitchen island and he stood on the other side of the island telling me how I couldn't have any and that he would be eating only one slice then throwing the rest away. I told him I would eat some anyway. He grabbed my arm from across the kitchen island and tried to punch me, but in the same motion of me trying to defend myself, he ended up punching the pizza cutter.
That was the worst beating of my life. I had his blood on me. He accused me of trying to kill him when it was literally his own aggression that caused the injury. He poured soda on me while I tried to call my mom who just didn't answer the phone for hours. I couldn't get off the floor.
You know how my family remembers this? The time little sister tried to kill the poor golden child. They'd whisper about it and ask me like I was a serial murderer what was going through my head. Abe got stitches and ice cream.
Aside from the physical abuse, he was extremely good at mental abuse. He actually formulated plans on how to emotionally cripple me the best he could. He came up with a game where he would make me recall all the lyrics to songs we both knew, except I never knew any lyrics. Then he would berate me and tell me to keep guessing while I guessed the wrong lyrics. If I stopped guessing, he'd beat me. I remember clamming up so hard that he started screaming for me to keep guessing, hitting me wasn't working anymore, and my mom walked in the room to tell him to come do something. He hesitantly left but told me "stay right here and don't move or I'll fuck you up". I stayed for a couple hours fiddling around (was by my bookcase so I could read to pass the time) but luckily he forgot about me that day.
I could go on and on about Abe but the point is that he was my primary aggressor, not my dad. My dad was classic BPD, like textbook, but he at least attempted to be moral. My dad wasn't proud of the damage he inflicted, he was more helpless to his own emotional outbursts, but Abe was calculated and my misery was his therapy. Regardless, as we became adults and Abe began to change into a different person, the narrative was that my dad was the big bad guy and everyone else was a victim.
Well, I went a different way. My mom and I had a fight one day when Abe wasn't home and she called her golden child, Roy, to yell at me. He was the guy who would do whatever my mom said and commanded you to listen even though he had no authority. When I refused to talk to him, she tripped over and started wailing. Of course, Roy starts yelling "did she hit you?? I'm gonna drive down there and kill you if you hit mom!"
What does my mom do? Correct him? No, she wails harder. She loves the attention from GC. This is her stage. I just walked outside to get some air. Then when I tried to come in, the door was locked. So, I called my dad.
My mom didn't expect me to call the family boogeyman to save me from HER. I essentially called her bluff and my dad picked me up. He was caught so off guard that he didn't have any emotional outbursts for a couple weeks of me living with him. I cried like a baby and he actually let me and consoled me. While my dad was not and is not a healthy or particularly good person, he had genuine pity for me as a human being and knew all of these things about Abe, Roy, and my mom. He told me a story about how he got of the shool bus as a kid and would think "I can't go on there" when looking at his home and I related completely. I still prefer my dad to my mom despite her never physically hurting me and him crushing kittens with his bare hands. With him and his support, I went NC with my mom and brothers. I was 15 at this time.
Living with a person like my dad had a predictably bad outcome, though. Even though he was way better than the rest of my family, I still had to endure seeing him kill his parrots and shop for Asian teens online. I went anorexic, gained my dad's approval by doing so, and eventually found my moral ground. I realized that words and actions were not the same and, having been taught morals my dad who never actually practiced them, I decided to practice them for him.
Well, he finally found a mail order wife and by that time, a year after I moved in, I was a burden. I could hear them having sex really loudly and he would tell me about how she "needed to get used to it" because she was in pain. It was crazy awkward and I wanted out as badly as he wanted me out.
One day I went to a party and was drinking on the curb. A girl came up to me and sat next to me. We were both drunk. I mentioned to her that I didn't want to go home to my dad and she said "wanna live with me?"
A week later, having packed my things, I told my dad that I was leaving and he could either let me go there or I would run away to a dumpster somewhere. He knew it would be wrong but he also saw it as an opportunity. So he says "let me at least see this place first".
I had never met her family or been in her house until the day I moved in. I came with a suitcase and my dad and met her mom, a Latin lady with a thick accent, and immediately noticed that the house was completely infested with tiny roaches. I was deathly afraid of bugs but said nothing. The girl, her nickname was Vlad, just told me to sleep with the lights on. So I did.
And that was the beginning of me being NC with anybody for a couple years. At 16, I was gone. No more Abe. Who the hell is this Roy guy? Both parents were through. I was free to begin healing.
Vlad wasn't perfect but she was still one of the most influential people n in my life. She stole money from me and I let her because I refused to get kicked out. She was also extremely social and helped me overcome the damage that was done to my social skills. I was still kind of weird and not as popular as she was, but the friendships I did make were unlike anything I knew before. Life was starting to get better and I tasted independence for once. It was weird to not be an object.
One day, Vlad and a few of my friends were walking down the sidewalk to get somewhere when I got a call. I don't know what possessed me to answer it, but I got sick when I heard Abe.
"Where are you? Tell me NOW or I'm calling the police. You don't live there. You live here with mom. Mom's worried sick. You should be ashamed of yourself". Just on and on. I bawled right in front of everybody. I asked him why he couldn't just disappear, why he felt the need to follow me when I never did anything to provoke him. In true Abe fashion, he talked to me like I was just ignorant and he knew what was best because he's older. Vlad, who was not shy, took the phone from me and hung up. Said he could fuck himself and that I should get over it. Her heart was in the right place, but it wasn't that easy. I liked that about her, actually.
I didn't hear from Abe again in a while, mostly because I ignored his calls and he didn't know where I was. Apparently my mom would cry every day excessively, but I was honestly glad about that and was not shy about telling her that I thought she deserved it and that she'd die before seeing me again. She wouldn't contract me because if it. My dad was on my side and I saw him a couple times when he taught me to drive, but I ultimately didn't see him much at all after he got the new wife. Vlad and I finally had a big fight and I moved in with a guy I met days prior to leaving. We dated for several months and by that point I was almost 2 years NC.
Then, we broke up and I was homeless. I didn't want to go back to Vlad because she was not a great person despite me liking her as much as I do (and her mom had no car, no internet, no furniture, 2 young children, and many bills to pay while selflessly taking care of me), so I had one other friend to lean on. That friend essentially hung me out to dry (long story, I rented a room from her and she ultimately never let me move in), and so it was either: go back to mom's house or start your life on the streets.
That's how I ended up seeing them all again. I had gone full circle and was now fully dependent on them again. Luckily, Abe has turned himself around in that time. He'd apparently had a bad experience with one of his drugs, thought he was going to die, and turned into a serious hypochondriac. He went from having police force him to go to school to full-blown medical school. My mom had learned that she had to tread lightly with me. She learned my boundaries and, even though she never changed as a person, she adapted to being able to be in my company. It sucked and we fought constantly, but at least now I was almost an adult and far more experienced in my own life.
So, I lived with my mom 17-19 and, in that time, I was exposed again to my brothers. I remember seeing Abe walk into the apartment looking completely different. He's gone from a skinny goth self mutilater to a bulky, muscular athlete. His demeanor was entirely different. He joked a lot, didn't force me to acknowledge him, and I couldn't talk to him at all due to trauma response. But over time, it was clear that he was actually really smart and really funny. I told my mom that I found him funny when he wasn't around, she told him I said that, and he ended up joking with me relatively often. Abe was a new person. He could've actually been like a best friend, we took classes together and got along like actual siblings. It was just plain weird.
But for all of the good times were the same bad times. I'd come home from 13 hour shifts serving tables at 2am and have to park outside the complex because Abe, who had never had a job and was 24 or so at the time, said that serving tables was easy and I shouldn't be entitled to the only parking spot, that I should get a REAL job like him. He would take my charger and get in my face screaming if I took it back, even though I bought it. I got fit and was actually underweight and he would rip ice cream or of my hands, even though I bought it with my own money, and throw it in the garbage. Abe always knew better. He was entitled to control. And as we would sit around the table a reunited family, complete with Abe, Roy, my mom, and myself, we would talk all about the damage our dad did and how we were all a club of abuse survivors. And then, as we all reflect on the past, they start saying "remember how manipulative you were as a kid, little sister? You would cry non-stop haha it was so annoying haha".
And the pizza cutter incident. They brought it up regularly with me as the aggressor. They mocked me and asked if I would get the pizza cutter when I was upset.
Despite the dynamic being the same, Abe did clearly want to make amends, despite how misguided. We talked privately about how we internalized the things our dad did. And then he said it. He turned to me and said "it's not like I ever hit you or anything".
I clammed up and agreed. Abe illicits involuntary submission from me. I had to agree that he never hurt me. I did manage to choke out that I didn't take it as personally because he was also a child who was being abused, and he accepted that, but never apologized. He would talk all about putting my dad on the spot for an apology and being mad that he couldn't man up and give one, but he was equally guilty of this.
Clearly, I was still the scapegoat. It dawned on me that they still were no different from before, just mature enough to not hit me. If I had anything to say, I'd be shot down, eyes rolling, full on laughter that I would conceive such silly thoughts, despite them being proveable or subjective. "Um, I'm older than you, okay. Lol. Who's the one thing you medical school?" There was always "objective proof" against whatever I said, even if nothing about it was objective at all. Roy and my mom respected Abe so much that they just basically cheerlead anything he says.
Long story short, I lived this watered down version of hell until I met my husband. Abe told me that he was certainly a psychopath for liking me and, if I was smart, I'd run. But I wasn't smart so he worried for me, thought I would end up murdered by this guy for sure. Told me I was dumb for thinking he didn't only want me because I was young. Abe, Roy, and my mom all placed bets on how long the marriage would last. I got pregnant fast and, the very day we moved out of state, I never looked back.
Years went by. My husband and I have been married 7 years. We have a special needs child together that is the light of our lives. I live with crippling social anxiety and agoraphobia from my heightened flight/fight/freeze response but my husband picks up the slack. I'm healthier every year and no longer depressed. Life is so normal that I don't think of my old family much at all anymore. Abe talks to my husband and doesn't even try calling me. Roy and I have an awkward forced conservation once a year. My husband finds it weird how they can seem so normal. Whatever.
Because of my child and my mom's actual impressive reformation, I have daily contract with my mom, predicated on her knowing that I won't tolerate her narrative. She respects my boundaries but tells me all the time about how "Abe and Roy miss you so much, they're good people, they're hurting, they're your brothers" but I calmly express to her that they are, in fact, beneath strangers to me. But I'm the bad guy because I won't let them contact me. Water off a duck's back.
Finally, it came to a head. Abe was a day away from taking his final exam before being officially licensed as a doctor. My mom tells me this and I say "good for him, I hope he passes". We're talking and suddenly I hear his voice. I haven't spoken to him in literally years, and by choice. But he's the kind of guy who thinks he's right, I'm wrong, and he's going to forcefully allow me why I'm wrong by putting me on the spot. He gets on the phone and says "Hey little sister, I just finished my rounds in psychiatry. You definitely need a psychiatrist. I know you're sad all the time and I just discovered that we have BPD in our family line. Dad has it, I have it, and you have it. Go read the DSM and you'll be blown away by how much it describes you, specifically the 'bad subsect. You definitely need these meds". He then goes on to explain that it's objective fact and he's a doctor and how crazy people always seem totally normal.
I didn't think much of it. Honestly, I believed him. I thought 'huh, I should check that out, maybe I do have it' since, on a surface level, Abe and I were similar in personality and I'm not ignorant enough to think that I'm immune to psych problems. I did correct him about me being sad all the time. Apparently my mom said that because I made the mistake of telling her about one minor fight I had with my husband weeks prior. I've honestly never felt more mentally healthy than I did before this phone call.
But then I read the DSM and everything came flooding back. You all don't need me to explain, but he essentially told me that I would self identify with being narcissistic, manipulative, having a malleable self identify, etc. Not one of the "bad" characteristics described me. If anything, the "sad" sounded just like me: submissive to a fault, extremely anxious, etc. But he glazed right past that, read something that described him and my dad perfectly, and said "wow that sounds like little sister". And honestly I can't come up with a more profound insult than giving me a mental diagnosis that is so extremely far from the mark after not having spoken to me in literal years. I typed up a long message to him and deleted it because I knew it would just get ripped apart by "facts" like how there's no way to know if my memories are false and that I have a "history of lying".
I'm still a scapegoat. Why? My personality is malleable to them. They're so used to characterizing me as whatever suits them that they think it's a normal and natural thing to do. It doesn't matter how old or detached I become. It doesn't matter if I'm thin or fat. The content of neither my words nor my actions matters. They genuinely want to get to know me but can't see that they don't even know the basics of who I am. I find it boggling that they can be so extremely unaware of themselves.

Sally remains a hurricane and is moving slowly.

From the latest public advisory (as of 9/16 11:30 AM ET) Sally is likely to cause issues with rainfall, storm surge, surf, wind tornados, and flooding - including potential inland flooding.
Check your local weather or emergency management agency for more specific information where you are.

Please look to local news, local weather, and local and state emergency management agencies to find out more about how you may be affected, if you need to evacuate, and steps on getting prepared. Please everyone stay safe.

U Forecasts, Predictions, and Watches/Warnings

Updates: National Hurricane Center, the NHC page on Sally, Weather.gov, wind speed, Google's Crisis Map
Useful Twitter accounts: NHC-Atlantic, FEMA; NWS, and for NWS offices in New Orleans LA, Lake Charles LA, Jacksonville FL, Key West FL, Tallahassee FL, Birmingham AL, Jackson MS, Greenville-Spartanburg SC,Columbia SC, Charleston SC, Wilmington NC,Newport/Morehead City NC, Wakefield VA; Louisiana Department of Public Health Twitter, NOLA Ready
Relevant Twitter hashtags with updates: #Sally, #HurricaneSally, #GulfCoast, #HurricaneSeason
State specific emergency management agencies: Louisiana, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia
For more information check out /TropicalWeather.

Tulsa Preparedness & Planning
College students should check out their university's emergency alert system - if you're not signed up to get notices, you should!
Useful links on: hurricane preparedness, emergency kits, emergency supplies for your car.

Louisburg Other things worth thinking about or getting:

General: A cooler. Fun/mental health stuff - books, games, etc. Cash. Weather radio and batteries. Flashlights > candles. Backup cell phone, laptop, or other batteries. Extra water. Hand sanitizer. Comfort items (a toddler's blankie, the puppy's favorite toy, your grandpa's watch you can't imagine losing).
Specialized: Transportation and assistive devices (think especially about children, pets, the elderly, people with disabilities).
Cars: Gas. Window breakeseatbelt cutter.

Gattaca Florida Safety:

Check your smoke detector and carbon monoxide detector batteries!
Watch out for downed power lines. Never assume it is dead. Avoid it.
Assume floodwaters are deeper than they look. Turn around, don't drown.
Learn your flood and evacuation zones!
Food safety from the FDA and USDA.
If your home floods and you need to go up, head for the roof. Keep an ax in your attic to get out that way if you need it.
Be aware of potential 911 delays.
Evacuate! If you can, check on people you know to see if they need help evacuating if you can offer it or put them in touch with someone who can.

Hertfordshire Documentation:

Bring it with you.
Store it in a plastic bag to they are together and stay dry.
House deed/rental agreement/lease.
Insurance information (home, car, renters, medical, flood).
Identification (ID card/driver's license, passport, Social Security card, marriage/birth certificates).
Take photographs of your home before you evacuate and when you return. Good documentation of the damage may help if you need to file an aid or insurance claim.

For long-term preparedness, check out CERT training information.

Holland Evacuation

College Information
We'll be updating this list as we get information.

/CFB Ball Alabama

University	Update	Sources
Bishop State Community College	All remote learning on Monday and Tuesday. All events cancelled Monday and Tuesday.	7
Coastal Alabama Community College	Closses at 2 PM on Monday. In person classes closed through Wendesday. Online classes continue to meet.	5
Spring Hill College	Classes cancelled after 1:30 PM on Monday. Classes online on Tuesday.	5
University of Mobile	Move to all online instruction as of 1:30 PM Monday. Normal classes resume Wendesday.	5
South Alabama University of South Alabama	Classes, events, and activities canceled Tuesday and Wednesday.	16

/CFB Ball Florida

University	Update	Sources
Gulf Coast State College	All campuses closed Tuesday.	11
Northwest Florida State College	Closed through Tuesday.	13
Pensacola State College	All campuses closed Monday and Tuesday.	7, 17
West Florida University of West Florida	All classes - in person and online - cancelled through Thursday.	18

/CFB Ball Louisiana

University	Update	Sources
Delgado Community College	Online classes only on Monday and Tuesday.	8, 19
Loyola	Operating normally until 4 PM on Monday. Classes canceled Tuesday. Classes resume Wednesday.	2, 20
New Orleans Theological Seminary/Leavell College	Closed Monday-Wednesday.	8
Nicholls Nicholls State	All classes online Monday-Wednesday.	4
Northshore Technical Community College	Online on Monday. Closed on Tuesday. Decision on Wednesday pending.	8, 21
Nunez College	Online classes continue. In person classes cancelled Monday and Tuesday.	8
Southeastern Louisiana Southeastern University	All classes online on Monday. All classes cancelled on Tuesday.	14
Southern Southern University	Normal operations on Tuesday.	9, 22
Tulane Tulane	In person and online classes canceled after noon on Monday and Tuesday. Wednesday classes TBD.	1
Holy Cross University of Holy Cross	Closed Monday and Tuesday.	8
University of New Orleans	Classes all online on Monday. In person, online, and hybrid classes canceled on Tuesday.	3
Xavier University	Classes online after 5 PM Monday. Classes cancelled Tuesday.	8

/CFB Ball Mississippi

University	Update	Sources
Jones County JC Jones College	All classes online through Wednesday.	12
Mississippi Gulf Coast CC Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College	All classes online starting Monday at noon and Tuesday.	10
Southern Miss University of Southern Mississippi - Gulf Coast Locations	All classes and events moved online starting at noon on Monday.	15

/CFB Ball South Carolina
If you know of any of these, please let us know.

University	Update	Sources

/CFB Ball North Carolina
If you know of any of these, please let us know.

University	Update	Sources

/CFB Ball Virginia
If you know of any of these, please let us know.

University	Update	Sources

Sources
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22

Touchdown Game Information Penalty Flag
We'll be updating this list as we get information.
This list includes all games played with teams in affected states. Many may not be affected, but given the ripple effects of things like travel and the particular complications of scheduling this season, we've listed them all here for reference.

Date	Time	Home Team	Away Team	Game Location
9/18	7:30 PM ET	Coastal Carolina	Campbell	Conway, SC
9/19	12:00 PM ET	Georgia State	Louisiana	Atlanta, GA
9/19	12:00 PM ET	Tulane	Navy	New Orleans, LA
9/19	12:00 PM ET	Duke	Boston College	Durham, NC
9/19	2:30 PM ET	Notre Dame	USF	South Bend, IN
9/19	3:30 PM ET	Georgia Tech	UCF	Atlanta, GA
9/19	3:30 PM ET	Georgia Southern	FAU	Statesboro, GA
9/19	3:30 PM ET	UNC	Charlotte	Chapel Hill, NC
9/19	4:00 PM ET	Middle Tennessee	Troy	Murfreesboro, TN
9/19	4:00 PM ET	Clemson	The Citadel	Clemson, SC
9/19	7:30 PM ET	ULM	Texas State	Monroe, LA
9/19	7:30 PM ET	Louisville	Miami (FL)	Louisville, KY
9/19	7:30 PM ET	Southern Miss	Louisiana Tech	Hattiesburg, MS
9/19	8:00 PM ET	NC State	Wake Forest	Raleigh, NC

Learn More

I’ve been writing summaries of all the candidates for the last few elections. This is designed to help voters with “down ballot” choices. As always, if you have feedback, comments or additional thoughts, please add them in the comments, inform others and share this!
US President
I generally exclude anything about the two main presidential candidates because most voters have plenty of information on them already. That said, there are 3 independent candidates that will appear on the ballot this year in North Carolina. Back in 2016, independent candidates received about 3% of the vote or 189,000 votes (of which the vast majority went to the Libertarian candidate at the time, Gary Johnson).
Jo Jorgensen (Libertarian). Jorgensen is a southerner with degrees from Clemson and SMU, including a PhD earned in 2002 in Industrial and Organizational Psychology. In North Carolina, she actually finished 6th in the Libertarian primary in March with a total of 267 votes (not a typo). Libertarians generally advocate a very low tax platform. Jorgensen’s website also mentions removing quotas on immigration, reducing sentences for “victimless crimes” and preventing arrested individuals from losing their property before due process.
Don Blankenship (Constitution). Blankenship was the former CEO of Massey Energy, a coal company. Most notably, he was convicted in 2015 of “conspiring to violate federal mine safety standards” which was a result of a mine explosion in 2010 that killed 29 coal miners. A federal judge recommended overturning the conviction in 2019. He has run unsuccessfully for Senate in West Virginia in the past. The Constitution Party general advocates for limited the federal government to what is specifically enumerated in the Constitution. Blankenship believes that citizens “cannot rely on the media for truthful information” and “illogical rulings by judges” are major problems.
Howie Hawkins (Green). Hawkins himself is a former Teamster and his VP is the second black woman, in addition to Kamala Harris, who appears at the top of the ballot this year. The Green Party is a far left party that mentions several issues on its website: $20 minimum wage, reparations for African Americans, and impeaching Trump. On foreign policy issues, it endorses members of its “core campaign team” who camped outside the Venezuelan embassy to protest “the US sponsored coup attempt.”

US Senate
Thom Tillis (Republican, Incumbent). Tillis is the incumbent first elected in 2014. He has stayed within party lines supporting Trump and has advocated anti-abortion issues and some anti-Internet marketplace actions (e.g. anti-counterfeit measures, the SANTA Act which forces more accountability on the part of marketplace sellers). His website now leads with a health and COVID message, including a note on his homepage to “hold China accountable.” He supported Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh and “the President’s stance on border security.” Tillis was previously speaker of the NC House. In the House, he supported the 2nd Amendment, anti-abortion initiatives and voter ID efforts. He lives in Huntersville. Tillis and the Republican Party have been running a very aggressive (ie negative and laden with attack ads) campaign to prevent Tillis’ seat from flipping.
Cal Cunningham (Democrat). Cunningham has led one of the most well-funded Senate races in NC as this is a critical state for Democrats but also “flippable” based on a history of NC sometimes electing Democratic Senators due changing urban demographics. On his website, Cunningham leads with “lower cost, accessible health care” and is pro-ACA. He is against “reckless tariffs” that hurt farmers and wants a “more equitable economy and living wage in every community.” On the environment, he would like NC to be carbon neutral by 2050 and to cut carbon and public pollution in half by 2030. He believes investing in wind and solar is the path to best transition the economy. Cunningham also supports a $15 minimum wage. Cunningham talks often about corruption in Washington which he thinks could be overcome with campaign finance reform, fair maps, and “a political system that empowers voters to make their voices heard.” He is anti-dark money and anti-extreme partisan gerrymandering. It also came to light the same weekend the President’s COVID news was revealed that he has been having an affair as “sexual” text messages were discovered (how these came to light is still unclear. It reminds me of the Jeff Bezos sexting scandal which had both hackers and disgruntled individuals involved).
Shannon Bray (Libertarian). Bray’s resume lists that he has a PhD in Computer Science. His website says he works for the Department of Defense but his LinkedIn profile says that his current role is “confidential.” Bray’s primary message on his website is about privacy (“Who is keeping your private information safe?”) Other issues he explicitly lists are “endless wars,” “data privacy,” “homeland and cybersecurity, “ “veterans affairs” (he served in the Navy), “smart technology” and “home and health care.” He agrees that “the cost of health care has become ridiculous” and says that “tort reform” is key to improving health care quality.
Kevin Hayes (Constitution). Hayes has “15 years experience in the IT industry.” Hayes says that he is anti-federal government in education (which usually means a person is anti-Common Core, but he doesn’t provide any thoughts on how to make up the shortcoming in funds if federal education dollars disappeared). He has run for office before (US House of Representatives at least twice) and it appears that he hasn’t won an office before. The Constitution Party is a far right party which focuses on social versus economic issues and espouses many of the same issues as the Republican Party. It leads with the “sanctity of life,” “religious freedom” and “traditional family.”

US House of Representatives, District 9
This district had lots of issues as it was the Dan McCready-Mark Harris district from 2018 (neither of those candidates won the House seat as Dan Bishop ultimately won in a special election). The respected Cook Political Report has this district as “likely Republican.”
Cynthia Wallace (Democrat). Wallace was the chair of NC Democratic party District 9. Wallace embraces a classic Democratic platform: “good paying jobs,” “affordable healthcare,” “reduced gender pay gap,” “high quality public education,” “improved critical infrastructure” (including roads and Internet). There is actually very little detail beyond a handful of pages on her website. As a new candidate, she won 56% of the vote in the March 2020 primary. She has been vastly outraised financially and we’ve heard little about this race compared to when Dan McCready ran 2 years ago (McCready raised at least $6MM in that race).
Dan Bishop (Republican, Incumbent). Bishop is a reliably conservative politician who was an NC state senator, NC house of representatives member and a county commissioner for years. He won the special election against Dan McCready in 2019 after the state Board of Elections would not certify Mark Harris. Bishop is known for being the “architect of HB2” which is still on the books in NC (in addition to being an anti-transgender bill also prohibits cities like Charlotte from raising its minimum wage). He is unabashedly conservative, against “dangerous sanctuary city policy” and for “expanded school choice” and pro-2nd Amendment. His websites usually also always cite his pro-life stance. He also talks about low taxes and limited government spending.

North Carolina Governor
Roy Cooper (Democrat, Incumbent). Cooper is the incumbent Governor who has served since 2017. He supports pay increases for teachers which stagnated under Republican governors. Education support has a major milestone under Cooper’s leadership. He has been in NC politics for years having served 4 terms as Attorney General. He lists a number of issues on his website ranging from education and the environment to jobs, infrastructure and disaster recovery. Morning Consult’s weekly surveys say that he has a 47% approval rating which is about 30th compared to all 50 states. That figure has fluctuated and has been as high as 59% even as recently as July.
Dan Forest (Republican). Forest is an architect by training. He has served for two terms as the Lieutenant Governor (2 terms max is what the NC Constitution allows). He is also a very conservative candidate: he supports school choice, was pro HB2 (the anti-transgender bill), has voted against climate change legislation and is anti-gun control. If there is such a thing as Charlotte royalty, Forest is it: he is the son of Sue Myrick, the Congresswoman from District 9 from 1995-2013 and former Charlotte mayor. Forest is reported to have received $2.4 million from a donor who was recently sentenced to 7 years in prison for trying to bribe the insurance commissioner (Mike Causey, who is also on the ballot). Forest has also recently sued Roy Cooper because he disagreed with the Governor’s coronavirus response, a lawsuit which he dropped when a judge ruled against him because he “didn’t have a winning legal argument.” The Observer described his anti-mask stance as “reckless, polarizing and uncaring.”
Al Pisano (Constitution). Pisano is a Pennsylvania native and former CMPD police officer. After incidents like the Oklahoma City bombing he felt that “both parties lacked the Constitutional perspective.” He supports “alternative means of education” like trade schools and homeschooling, eliminating the personal income tax, and not forcing citizens to buy health insurance. He also has a very extreme view of the 2nd Amendment (he thinks that Red Flag laws that “criminalize mental illness” are bad).
Steven DiFiore (Libertarian). DiFiore is a relatively young UNCC graduate (he appears to be around 34). It is unclear if he currently has a job. Online searches reveal that he was a “lighting controls specialist” in his past and is now the recording secretary for Mecklenburg Country’s Libertarian Party. He leads with a COVID-19 message on his website with a focus on reopening the state, and reducing taxes and liabilities for businesses. His key issues appear to be education (he supports more charter schools), a focus on mental healthcare, and deregulating ABC stores to support the brewing and distilling industry in the state. He ran for Charlotte City Council in 2017 and lost.

NC Lieutentant Governor
This is an understandably less scrutinized race than governor as the role has less responsibility (even though the salary, $125k, is almost as much as the Governor’s). This role is like the Vice President: it is 2nd in line to the governorship, and it presides over the NC Senate. Both candidates for this role are Black and this would be the first time in North Carolina history that the role would be held by a Black official. The candidates are:
Yvonne Lewis Holley (Democrat). Holley is from Wake County and has worked during her house tenure (which is now over 7 years) to relieve food deserts. Her key initiative includes the “affordable living initiative” which focuses on affordable and attainable housing, affordable and healthy food, economic and workforce development, transportation, and public education. Since the March primary she has also added criminal justice reform and gun legislation to her website. While many of these sound like issues that city councils may be better equipped to handle than the Lieutenant Governor (given the Lt Gov’s limited role), the issues are critical ones. Holley was endorsed by the Charlotte Observer, the Sierra Club and the NC State AFL-CIO.
Mark Robinson (Republican). Robinson has little political experience and was a surprise winner in the Republican primary in March. He served in the Army reserves and held a number of different jobs as a factory and restaurant shift worker. His claim to fame is that he gave an impassioned speech about conservatism in which he advocated for citizens to own guns to the Greensboro City Council in April 2018. That speech made its way to YouTube and was well-received by conservatives as he critiqued the “loonies on the left.” His platform now is in line with Republicans: anti-abortion, pro-gun control, anti-“indoctrination in schools”, and pro-law enforcement.

NC Attorney General
The NC Attorney General is the top law enforcement officer and top lawyer of the state. According to the NC Department of Justice website, “the Attorney General oversees criminal appeals from state courts to ensure that criminals are kept behind bars and innocent people are not. [The role] also ensures that consumers are protected by going after scam artists and corporate bad actors.”
Josh Stein (Democrat, Incumbent). Stein has been the Attorney General of NC since 2017. For 7 years prior to that he was a state senator and he worked in the Attorney General’s office before that. His key priorities cited on his website are promoting public safety, protecting consumers and seniors, preserving clean air and water and protecting healthcare including the Affordable Care Act. While his website doesn’t state it, the NC Attorney General’s office has also joined in the broad antitrust investigations that many states are undertaking now into Google, Facebook and others. Stein has been endorsed by the Observer, the AFL-CIO, Governor Roy Cooper and Planned Parenthood NC.
Jim O’Neill (Republican). O’Neill served as Forsyth County District Attorney since 2009. He ran for NC District Attorney in 2016 and lost the primary. His website is very minimalist now but he has said in the past he will address the backlog of sexual assault kits that are with the state (his opponent is accusing him in ads that Forsyth County now has a huge backlog). He supports federal immigration policy (he supports ICE) and does not support sanctuary cities, and he says he will fight the opioid crisis. He is also an advocate of the death penalty.

NC Auditor
This role has oversight for the accounting and financial functions of the state. It also acts as a watchdog over state agencies so it requires candidates with strong accounting skills.
Beth Wood (Democrat, Incumbent). Wood is running for her 4th term as the state auditor (she’s been in the role since 2009). She has been in the role for years and appears to be well-regarded. She has a degree in accounting and is a CPA. She has a reputation of doing her job well and the Observer has endorsed her. On her website, she says she’s saved the NC millions of dollars by auditing things like prison medical billing and employee reviews. She has introduced data analytics into the office in order to more quickly find dollars at risk.
Tony Street (Republican). Street is from Brunswick County (east coast, Wilmington area) and has worked in nuclear security and commercial fishing and has operated a small business. He says he has a master’s in public administration from UNC Pembroke. He also has a criminal record having served 6 months probation for stalking. He says he wants ensure voters know how their money is spent but it is not clear that he has any accounting qualifications which seem to be essential to executing this role. He describes himself on his website as a “fiscal, moral and social conservative.”

NC Commissioner of Agriculture
This role exists to find “new markets” for NC farm products, preserve working farms and protect the state’s food supply. The role is currently held by a Republican and is elected every 4 years. This role also manages weights and measures, gas and oil inspection and operates the NC State Fair and state farmers markets. The salary is $125k.
Steve Troxler (Republican, Incumbent). Troxler has been in this role since 2005. His website leads with commentary denouncing Jenna Wadsworth, his opponent, wishing that “God would change her heart” (she posted a TikTok video that was critical of Trump). His plan for the future includes keeping the food supply abundant, keeping the food supply safe and maintaining healthy forests and conservation. He was endorsed by the Charlotte Observer.
Jenna Wadsworth (Democrat). Wadsworth was elected to be the Wake County Soil and Water Conservation District Board of Supervisors while she was still in college. She is in her early 30s now. She is from the Triangle area, having attended North Carolina School of Science and Math for high school and NC State for college. She grew up on a farm and her key issues are farmland preservation, not just “writing relief checks.” She supports hemp and cannabis as new crops and is endorsed by NC AFL-CIO and NC Sierra Club. . ”Wadsworth is young and received kudos in a Charlotte Observer op-ed for being passionate about agriculture. But while the Observer was complimentary about her ideas and energy, it gave its endorsement to the incumbent Troxler because of his long-standing relationship with farmers, which it felt was important due to agriculture’s role in NC’s economy.

NC Commissioner of Insurance
This role regulates the insurance industry in North Carolina, licenses insurance professionals, educations customers about insurance and handles customer complaints about insurance. The salary is $125k.
Mike Causey (Republican, Incumbent). Causey is the incumbent and the State Fire Marshal. He’s an Army veteran and worked in the insurance industry for 25 years. His website says his “goal as commissioner is to fight for more competition in the industry and to combat insurance fraud to drive rates lower for the North Carolina consumer. He is also passionate about making the office more consumer-friendly to help residents attain their insurance needs.” Causey is currently embroiled in the same scandal as Dan Forest who is accused of accepting funds from a wealthy donor who is now accused of bribery. Causey was evidently an FBI informant in that case.
Wayne Goodwin (Democrat). Goodwin is a native North Carolinian and was the former Insurance Commissioner (elected in both 2008 and 2012 but was defeated by Mike Causey in 2016). He is also currently the chair of the state Democratic party. He says that during his tenure as insurance commissioner, NC residents had the lowest auto insurance rates in the country but that is no longer the case. He calls his opponent “#RateHikeMike.”

NC Commissioner of Labor
This winner of this position will have their photo on every elevator in NC. The current commissioner, Cherie Berry has had a reputation of being soft on employers who violate labor laws. This position also does a number of other important as well things like inspect amusement park rides and investigate employment discrimination.
Josh Dobson (Republican). Dobson is currently a state representative and also a former county commissioner. He appears to have raised more money in this race than his opponents. He also doesn’t think this role should be “on a crusade” to prosecute businesses. He has the endorsement of NC Agriculture Commissioner Steve Troxler and NC Congressman Mark Meadows.
Jessica Holmes (Democrat). Holmes was elected to the Wake County Board of Commissioners in her 20s. She is a native North Carolinian and a first generation college graduate. She considers herself a "worker's advocate." It’s important to note that if Holmes and Holley are elected, there would be 2 Black women who are senior in the NC “Council of State” (10 elected state-level positions, including all of the ones on this ballot).

NC Secretary of State
This role is the head the economic and business-related operations of the state.
EC Sykes (Republican). Sykes says he wants to help NC by “bringing transparency and efficiency to our state government with commonsense policies like honoring the rule of law, cutting waste, limiting the size of government, and restoring citizens’ confidence in our government.” His homepage announces that he is “a man of strong faith.” He was a former Ted Cruz campaign volunteer. He does not appear to have any political background but does have a business background. He cites one of his objectives in an Observer interview to “end the practice of allowing illegal aliens to serve as Notaries Public.”
Elaine Marshall (Democrat, Incumbent). Marshall has been the secretary of state for NC since 1996 when she was the first woman elected to the Council of State in NC’s history. She was an NC state senator prior to that. She says that her key accomplishments have been to “cut red tape for entrepreneurs” and “prosecute charities masquerading as charities.” During the pandemic, Marshall said one of the things the office did was to have a 24/7 “online services” to help small businesses get PPP loans. She has also cited cybersecurity (ensuring the office’s data is safe) as a concern in written interviews.

NC Superintendent of Public Education
This person will be a member of the state Board of Education.
Catherine Truitt (Republican). Truitt is a lifelong educator and was an education advisor to Pat McCrory. She is also now the Chancellor of Western Governors University North Carolina. The issues of importance to her are to have qualified teachers in all classrooms, ensure graduates are college and career-ready, and engage public-private partnerships for schools. In the primary, Truitt downplayed her position on vouchers but in this election, she has been more clear that she aligns with the Republican party on this issue and is very pro-voucher. This of course is a position that teacher’s unions and Democrats are against. She does not say anything about reopening schools or safety protocols for schools in the midst of COVID-19.
Jen Mangrum (Democrat). Mangrum is also a longtime educator having been an elementary school teacher for nearly 14 years. She was on the education faculty at NC State where she created the Elementary Education Department there and she is now an Associate Professor at UNC Greensboro. Her key platform elements include expanding funding for classrooms, securing a living wage for personnel and getting spend for digital resources. On her website she shares the findings of a task force she pulled together of teachers giving their recommendations on reopening schools (essentially, a significant amount of funding needed to ensure safety and equity). She is endorsed by the Observer.

NC Treasurer
The treasurer’s office “manages the state’s retirement system, investments, and unclaimed property and provides financial support to local governments.” This includes pension plans, debt issuance, 401k plans and the state’s disability program. The position is currently held by a Republican and elected every four years.
Ronnie Chatterji (Democrat). Chatterji is an associate professor at Duke’s Business School and previously served as a Senior Economist at the White House Council of Economic Advisors where he was involved with policies related to “innovation, entrepreurship, infrastructure and economic growth.” He says that climate change is important but it’s unclear how he would change the current investment approach to address that. Many of his tweets include #TheNerdWeNeed. In the March primary, he was endorsed by the AFL-CIO and the NC Association of Educators.
Dale Folwell (Republican, Incumbent). Folwell was a private investor and financial advisor who has served in the NC House and is the current Treasurer of North Carolina. He is endorsed by the Observer though it didn’t provide much detail for why beyond “we think he’s the right fit in this challenging financial climate” in spite of the fact that he hasn’t had much success “pushing for more transparency in hospital pricing.”

NC State Senate District 37
The NC House and Senate have been majority Republican since 2011. They were in Democratic hands for 12 years from 1999 through 2010. This will likely vary for you unless you live in my neighborhood because these lines were redrawn since the 2016 election. To see which district is yours, you can click here:
Jeff Jackson (Democrat, Incumbent). Jackson is the former assistant DA for Mceklenburg County and has been a state senator since 2014. According to the Charlotte Agenda is “one of the most recognizable politicians in the county.” He cites “ending gerrymandering” as one of his top priorities if elected. To help lower income communities, he says that “criminal justice reform is long overdue.” He is also an advocate of affordable housing and expanding Medicaid. He is one of the few candidates with bilingual links/translations on his website.
Sonja Nichols (Republican). Nichols is the owner of a security firm in Charlotte. She has said in questionnaires that her goals are to be “pro business,” enable “affordable housing and health care” and support “social equity.” She wishes that NC could have manufactured more things needed for COVID-19 like masks and test kits early in the pandemic. She is a Black Republican and “new to politics.”
Jeff Scott (Libertarian). Jeff Scott is relatively new to the North Carolina region and he has run for a number of roles unsuccessfully in the past including US Congressman and City Council. All of his digital footprint now is still from last year’s special election for District 9 (which Dan Bishop won) and there is nothing he has posted for his candidacy now. His old website calls for reform of predatory student lending, to stop “our search for monsters abroad,” and to stop nationalizing health care.

NC House of Representatives District 104
Don Pomeroy (Republican). Pomeroy appears to be new to politics but cites “30+ years of business, financial and volunteer experience.” He says he was a CPA and then a C-suite executive. He says that he is focused on economic prosperity, job growth and a pro-business, pro-entrepreneurship atmosphere. His website mentions nothing of social issues. He does say that he will fight to bring resources home to meet “transportation, education and public safety needs.”
Brandon Lofton (Democrat, Incumbent). Lofton is a practicing attorney and currently represents District 104. He supports “significant pay increase for teachers” and expanding Medicaid coverage. The main issues on his website are education, healthcare and jobs. Lofton also cites “ending gerrymandering” as a key priority if elected.

NC Supreme Court Chief Justice Seat 1
There are 7 State Supreme Court judges who get 8 year terms. Three are up for election this year.
Cheri Beasley (Democrat, Incumbent). Beasley is currently the Chief Justice and was appointed by Roy Cooper in 2019. She has been a state Supreme Court justice since 2012. She was a public defender in Cumberland County (home of Fayetteville) prior. She is the first black woman to serve as Chief Justice.
Paul Newby (Republican). Newby is currently a justice on the Supreme Court and is running for the Chief Justice role. He says he is the longest-serving Supreme Court justice. He most recently wrote a dissent in a decision that overturned a death penalty sentence.

NC Supreme Court Associate Justice Seat 2
Phil Berger Jr (Republican). Berger has been on the NC Court of Appeals since 2016 and calls himself a “conservative judge.” He was a District Attorney for Rockingham County for eight years prior to that (it is a rural county north of Greensboro). He says that he is running “to bring balance” to the 6-1 Democratic majority in the Supreme Court.
Lucy Inman (Democrat). Inman has been on the NC Court of Appeals since 2014. She has been a lawyer and judge for 30 years and has “served people in communities large ands small.” She says she wants to keep the system “free from partisan politics.” She started her career as a journalist.

NC Supreme Court Associate Justice Seat 4
Tamara Barringer (Republican). Barringer is currently a business school professor and was in the NC State Senate. She takes great pride in her child advocacy work where she says she “modernized foster care.” She values a strict interpretation of the Constitution.
Mark Davis (Democrat). Davis has been on the NC Supreme Court since March 2019. He says he believes in “judicial independence” and that he is the first Jewish member of the NC Supreme Court.

NC Court of Appeals Judge Seat 4
15 judges sit on Court of Appeals, but only 3 listen to any one case. A third of them (5) are up for election now.
Tricia Shields (Democrat). Shields is currently an attorney in private practice specializing in appellate cases. She has been a lawyer for 35 years.
April C Wood (Republican). Wood has been a district court judge since 2002. She has been a lawyer for 23 years. She describes herself as “constitutional, conservative and common sense.”

NC Court of Appeals Judge Seat 5
Lora Christine Cubbage (Democrat). Cubbage is currently a Superior Court judge. She was an assistant District Attorney and Assistant Attorney General prior. She has been a lawyer for 14 years.
Fred Gore (Republican). Gore is currently a District Court judge has been a lawyer for 12 years. He has served in the military. District Courts usually deal with smaller scale cases than Superior Court which has larger civil cases and all felonies.

NC Court of Appeals Judge Seat 6
Gray Styers (Democrat). Styers is currently a lawyer in private practice. He has been a lawyer for 30 years and says that he is running to “give back to my fellow North Carolinians as a judge.”
Chris Dillon (Republican). Dillon was elected in 2012. In addition to being a lawyer, he has “worked as a licensed real estate broker and community banker.” He has been a lawyer for 30 years.

NC Court of Appeals Judge Seat 7
Reuben Young (Democrat). Young says that he has spent most of his 32 year legal career serving others. He is currently a Appeals Court judge.
Jeff Carpenter (Republican). Carpenter is currently a Superior Court judge and has been a lawyer for 17 years. Prior to becoming a lawyer, he was an NC state trooper for 6 years

NC Court of Appeals Judge Seat 13
Chris Brook (Democrat). Brook is currently an Appeals Court judge (he has been one since 2019). He has 15 years of experience as a lawyer. He has also served as the legal director of NC’s ACLU.
Jefferson Griffin (Republican). Griffin is currently a District Court judge. He has 12 years of experience as a lawyer.
District Courts hear misdemeanor cases, family law cases, juvenile and magistrate matters. They serve 4 year terms. Appears to be at least 70 in Mecklenburg County

NC District Court Judge, District 26 Seat 1
Kimberly Best (Democrat). Best is running for her 4th term as District Court judge. She was a Spanish teacher before becoming a magistrate which was her first job in the legal world.
Pat Finn (Republican). Finn is an attorney in private practice. He was an assistant District Attorney in Catawba County prior to that.

NC District Court Judge, District 26 Seat 2
Aretha Blake (Democrat). Blake is currently a district court judge for Mecklenburg County. Blake faced a tough primary where she was besmirched by a disgruntled lawyer who ran against her and accused her of taking excessively long to rule on cases.

NC District Court Judge, District 26 Seat 3
Jena Culler (Democrat). Culler has been a District Court judge since 2011.

NC District Court Judge, District 26 Seat 4
Donald Cureton Jr. (Democrat). Cureton was a former District Court judge for 8 years. He received his law degree in 2003.

NC District Court Judge, District 26 Seat 5
Faith Fickling-Alvarez (Democrat). Fickling Alvarez was a former White House intern and member of the Peace Corp. She has been a lawyer for 14 years. She has been a District Court judge since 2018.

NC District Court Judge, District 26 Seat 6
Ty Hands (Democrat). Hands is from Las Vegas but moved to NC for college and is the first in her family to graduate from college. She speaks fluent Spanish and has been a District Court judge for 11 years.

NC District Court Judge, District 26 Seat 7
Gary Henderson (Democrat). Henderson has been a District Court judge since 2013 but he was reprimanded in 2018 by the NC Supreme Court for taking 2+ years to rule on a case.

NC District Court Judge, District 26 Seat 8
Christy Mann (Democrat). Mann has been a District Court judge for 14 years.

NC District Court Judge, District 26 Seat 9
Sunny Panyanouvuong-Rubeck (Republican). She is currently an assistant District Attorney and came to the US as a refugee from Laos in 1981. It appears that she moved to the Charlotte area in the early 2000s. She lists being a member of the Charlotte Rifle and Pistol Club on her resume.
Rex Marvel (Democrat). A former assistant public defender, Marvel is currently the incumbent District Court judge. He describes himself as a “longtime advocate for juveniles and children.” He has two young children and appears to have moved to Charlotte in the last 10 years.

NC District Court Judge, District 26 Seat 10
C Renee Little (Democrat). Little is a first generation America from Liberia. She is currently the Judicial Hearing Officer in the Office of Clerk of Superior Court. This will be her first elected office.

NC District Court Judge, District 26 Seat 11
Elizabeth Thornton Trosch (Democrat). Trosch has served as a district court judge since 2008. She was in the public defender’s office for 6 years prior to that.

NC District Court Judge, District 26 Seat 12
Roy Wiggins (Democrat). Wiggins has been a District Court judge since 2018. He has been an attorney in private practice for 23 years prior.

Board of Commissioners
The board's major responsibilities include adopting the annual county budget, setting the county property tax rate, and assessing and establishing priorities on the many community needs, especially those related to health, education, welfare, mental health, and the environment. The board also makes appointments to citizen advisory committees.
There are 9 Commissioners. The 3 at-large contestants are running uncontested:
Ella Scarborough (Democrat, Incumbent). Scarborough is an incumbent. She has left little to no digital footprint of her positions yet she has served in local politics in some role (first as a city councilwoman in 1987) for many years. She was Charlotte's first Black councilwoman in 1987.
Leigh Altman (Democrat). Altman is a public interest attorney and has raised a significant amount of money for her campaign and has received a fair amount of attention. Altman’s key issues include economic empowerment, mental health in schools and communities, reproductive rights and reduction in gun violence.
Pat Cotham (Democrat, Incumbent). Cotham is also an incumbent on the board. She opposed the proposed county sales tax that failed last November which was supposed to help the fine arts community and schools.

District 5 Board of Commissioners
All of the members of the 9-member Board of Commissioners are currently Democrats. Running in District 5 are:
Matthew Ridenhour (Republican). Ridenhour lives in South Charlotte and had served on the Mecklenburg County Commission in the past but was defeated in 2018 all Republicans were evicted from the County Commission. He then ran for District 9 Congressman in the special election in 2019 and lost in the primary to Dan Bishop. He is a military veteran and well-respected by city officials and was endorsed by Robert Pittinger who previously held this congressional seat. Many of Ridenhour’s positions are standard conservative issues (e.g. pro life, pro wall).
Laura Meier (Democrat). Meier is a former high school teacher for CMS and director of Sedgefield Middle’s after school program, and Dilworth resident. She has volunteered in other political campaigns and events like the 2017 Charlotte Women’s March. Her website mentions that she feels investment in public schools (including mental health support for children), affordable housing and greenways/green spaces are important. She says “we must provide equitable access to our local parks so that all have the chance for green spaces for the sake of mental health.”

Register of Deeds
Fred Smith (Democrat). Smith was first elected to this role in 2016 when he defeated the then incumbent. The office stores real estate documents and issues marriage licenses.

Soil and Water Conservation District Supervisor
The role is best for a “committed conservationist” according to the org’s website. The non-paid board of supervisors meets monthly to establish local soil and water conservation priorities based on the needs of the district. For years, this role has attracted many quirky candidates and this year is no exception:
David Michael Rice. Rice is a perennial candidate for some role or another. He last ran for mayor against Vi Lyles in 2019 and in 2018 ran for this same role unsuccessfully (he finished 4th of 6 candidates at that time). He appears to be registered as a Republican in Mecklenburg County.
Duncan St Clair. St. Clair last ran for a seat on the Board of Education. He appears to be the owner of a small batch coffee company. His LinkedIn profile has him as a park ranger and an insurance adjuster in his past. He appears to be registered as a Democrat in Mecklenburg County.
Gregory Denlea. Denlea calls himself an “educator and IT leader” (he was a former University of Phoenix teacher). He also ran for Board of Education in November 2019. He appears to be registered as a Republican in Mecklenburg County.
Rich George. George cites “brand strategy and marketing” as his profession. He moved to the county 10 years ago. He has taken the online course “Climate Leadership Corps” which is an Al Gore initiative. He advocates “a new dawn for Mecklenburg’s environment”—equitable, optimal and sustainable. He also wants to protect the tree canopy.

Voters are also being asked to vote on 3 referenda:
· $100MM transportation bond
· $50MM housing bond
· $45MM neighborhood improvement bond
Jennifer Roberts, the former major of Charlotte, wrote an op-ed in the Observer on September 15 questioning the lack of details or information on the bonds. She actually demanded that the city give more detail. To see if the bonds may affect you, look at p21-25 of this link. There is some detail but not much. That said, the city budget for the coming year appears to be $2.5B. This year the city will spend $230MM servicing its debt.

I’m gonna list all the bullshit you have to do and all the prices, at least to my knowledge. If this helps someone figure out what to do that’s cool, but I’m mainly just venting about how much shit you have to go through just to have your name changed. If you didn’t have to do some of these, please please please let me know so I and other guys can expedite the process.
1) Fingerprinting. You have to go to a sheriffs office to get your fingerprints on file and get your FBI background check. It costs $10.
2) SBI check. You have to fill out a form for a State Bureau of Investigation background check. It costs $14.
3) FBI check. You can do this online I think. It costs $18.
4) Fill out an Intent to File Name Change notice. It’s free, but it has to stay posted on a bulletin (I think at the county courthouse?) for ten days.
5) Petition for Name Change form. I think you download it online, and you wait to turn it in with all your other stuff.
6) TWO affidavits of character. You have to have two adults from the same county as you vouch for your character and confirm you’re “worthy” I guess? They both have to be notarized, and google says that’s $5 per document in N.C. so that’s $10 total.
7) Tax and Child Support Obligations Affidavit. That’s definitely not the actual name of the thing but it’s as close as I remember. I believe that also has to be notarized, so that’s $5.
8) Notary Verification form. Assuming you get your other shit notarized all at once, you then have to get the notary to fill out/sign the form. Cool fact, apparently they’re not allowed to object to notarizing anything that’s legal, so at least there’s no danger of a transphobic notary refusing. This would probably also be the $5 notary fee.
9) File the Name Change Petition with all documents. That’s all your affidavits, your notary form, etc. You also need a certified copy of your birth certificate (I think that’s a few dollars), photo ID, proof of address, and a self addressed envelope. There is a filing fee, and it varies by county. In my county, it’s a whopping $120 (plus $3 for every certified copy of the name change order, which you’ll probably need two of).
10) Possibly a hearing. Something I read said 95% of name changes in N.C. go through without a hearing, but I don’t know if that counts marriage name changes which probably would make up most of that. If you have to go to a hearing, you’ll stand in front of a judge who will decide whether you get a name change. Even if you’ve done alllllll that other bullshit right, they can still say nah. I wasn’t able to find whether there is a fee for the hearing.
After you’ve done ALL that, your name is changed! However, you’re now on a 60 day countdown to change your drivers license, which you can’t do until you’ve updated your social security info. The social security name change is free, the drivers license costs $13. Also, if you’re a minor, I believe the process is similar but your parents fill out the forms and, if you’re under 16, you don’t need the affidavits of character.
I hope you’ll all agree that this is a ludicrous amount of hoops to jump through. In my county it’s a total of $196 (the variable cost being the county filing fee) counting the drivers license update. This is my source for all of this. I haven’t started this process yet (I’m not quite 18), but mad props to anyone who is going through/has finished this process. You’ve gotta be the most patient man in the world.

I've been doing this for the last 3 elections and people tell me it's useful so here it goes again. There are a LOT of candidates in this upcoming primary. I did my best to provide a summary of most of them (I omitted the presidential candidates, and the board members representing specific districts). I start with the Republican ballot. You must scroll way down for for the Democratic ballot. Independents can choose which primary they want to vote in. If you have comments or additional information to inform voters, please add them at the bottom. Be informed and vote!
Here’s what is on the Republican ballot.
I won’t go into detail on the presidential candidates though it is important to note that there are two serious candidates against Trump. Bill Weld was the former governor of Massachusetts and Joe Walsh is a vocal former congressman who feels that Republicans should get another choice.
US Senate candidates:
Thom Tillis. Tillis is the incumbent first elected in 2014 (who will likely have a tough race in November but should sail through the primary). He stayed within party lines and has supported Trump and has advocated anti-abortion issues and some anti-Internet marketplace actions (e.g. anti-counterfeit measures, the SANTA Act which forces more accountability on the part of marketplace sellers). He calls himself a “common sense fiscal conservative.” He is a critic of tax increases and “passionate about serving active military members, veterans and their families.” He supported Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh and “the President’s stance on border security.” Tillis was previously speaker of the NC House. In the House, he supported the 2nd Amendment, anti-abortion initiatives and voter ID efforts. He lives in Huntersville.
Paul Wright. Wright was a former judge (District Court judge, Superior Court Judge). Wright, like his name, leans right. He has a “lifelong interest in conservative politics.” He believes “Christianity should be rightfully restored to its proper place to protect the rights of the people.” He is worried about dechristianization (“America losing its soul”), supports the 2nd Amendment and the right to bear arms, supports building a border wall and ending sanctuary cities, and wants to reverse same-sex marriage.
Larry Holmquist. Holmquist claims to be a “consistent conservative” and is a far-right candidate. He is pro-wall and 2nd amendment, anti-abortion (he thinks Planned Parenthood is “despicable”), pro term limits (thinks both Senators and House reps should have 12 years only), anti-Obamacare and pro strong national defense. He is “disgusted by Thom Tillis’ ‘flip-flopping’” and asserts that Thom Tillis is opposed to Trump’s border wall. He is a supporter of energy companies (“over-zealous environmentalists” should not be allowed to “shackle the country’s energy output.”) He also wants to abolish federal education standards and let cities and counties determine education. He is from the Midwest (Illinios and Iowa), lives in Greensboro, and is a former salesman and businessman.
Sharon Hudson. Hudson is a graduate of UNCC, lives in the Charlotte area and appears to be a moderate candidate. She is anti-Thom Tillis because she didn’t like the I-77 toll road expansion which she thinks he pushed. She believes these “failing financial models shouldn’t be forced on the American people.” She is pro-environment (though doesn’t mention anything specific to save it). She believes illegal immigrants should have “a strong guest worker program.” She is pro-life and supports “charter schools, private schools and homeschooling.” Her father was a cousin of Chuck Yeager (she’s from West Virginia where Yeager is from; Yeager was the first pilot to break the sound barrier).
NC Governor:
Dan Forest. Forest is an architect by training. He served for two terms as the Lieutenant Governor (2 terms max is what the NC Constitution allows). He is also a very conservative candidate: he supports school choice, was pro HB2, has voted against climate change legislation and is anti-gun control. He is as close to political royalty in Charlotte as one gets: he is the son of Sue Myrick, the Congresswoman from District 9 from 1995-2013 and former Charlotte mayor. Forest is in the midst of a money scandal because he recently received an in-kind donation from a donor who was indicted for financial crimes.
Holly Grange. Grange has a sparse website but decent experience; “Trump supporter” is one of the few words on her homepage. She is a “wife, mother, military veteran and member of NC House or Representatives.” She went to West Point. Her plan under “jobs & economy” on her website says that she supports tort reform to crackdown on trial lawyers and “jackpot justice.” She wants sheriffs to cooperate with ICE (unlike Mecklenburg Country’s sheriff). She is pro-life, pro-veteran and pro first responders (police and firefighters). She lives in Wilmington.
NC Lieutenant Governor:
This is an understandably less scrutinized race than governor as the role has less responsibility (even though the salary, $125k, is almost as much as the Governor’s). This role is like the Vice President: it is 2nd in line to the governorship, and it presides over the NC Senate. The role also serves on the NC Board of Education, the NC Capital Planning Commission, the NC Board of Community Colleges and is Chairman of eLearning Commission. I’m not sure why there are as many candidates as there are though this article explains it: many believe it is a stepping stone, a “cushy” job with a good title and relatively little attention.
John Ritter. Ritter is a lawyer in Moore County and a new father. It does not appear that he has any political experience. He is an advocate of vocational education, strong infrastructure, and fiscal responsibility.
Mark Robinson. Robinson has little political experience. He served in the Army reserves and held a number of different jobs as a factory and restaurant shift worker. He gave an impassioned speech about the right for citizens to own guns to the Greensboro City Council in April 2018 which made its way to YouTube and was well-received by conservatives as he critiqued the “loonies on the left.” He is also African American, which makes him a unique and appealing spokesperson for conservatives.
Scott Stone. Stone is a businessman and civil engineer from South Charlotte. He was an NC House member from Mecklenburg County until he lost in 2018 when there was a “blue wave” in the county. He’s ambitious--he tried to run for mayor of Charlotte twice. His platform in this election is about reduced regulation and taxes, standing up to sanctuary sheriffs, protecting the 2nd Amendment and enforcing voter ID laws and advocating against abortion.
Andy Wells. Wells is currently an NC State Senator for a rural area near Winston-Salem. He was an NC House member before that. He is a business owner of a real estate development company and his website indicates he is supportive of voter ID laws and not supportive of sanctuary sheriffs.
Buddy Bengal. Bengal is a young entrepreneur in New Bern with restaurants, a small baseball team and a syrup company to his name. He is an advocate of job creation and economic development and believes he can be a “salesman for the state.” He also mentions accountability for public employees but it’s unclear what that means other than to “reorganize inefficient or bloated departments.”
Deborah Cochran. Cochran is a former mayor of Mt Airy and teacher at a local high school. She says that she is an advocate of teachers. Her website states nothing specific about her issues other than esoteric statements like “I want to be the voice for all of NC.” While mayor, she says she led on the following issues: “responsible governance, lowering property tax rates, and public safety as necessities for citizens.”
Renee Ellmers. Ellmers was a US House Representative for the 2nd District of NC (which include Raleigh) from 2011 to 2017. Ellmers was a nurse elected to office in the Tea Party wave of 2010. She lost the GOP primary in 2016 amid allegations that she had an affair with Kevin McCarthy, the US House Minority Leader. She has been accused of being not conservative enough (she, with other Republican women, tried to stop a vote on banning abortions after 20 weeks—she disagreed with some of the rape provisions). In fact, others in the Republican party have accused her of being a RINO (Republican In Name Only).
Greg Gebhardt. Gebhardt is a military veteran and was an author of the NC voter ID law. His platform includes enforcing “common-sense legislation that enforces immigration laws,” advocating against abortion, defending the 2nd Amendment and “fighting socialism.” Healthcare and education are listed last on his platform page.
Mark Johnson. Johnson is currently the State Superintendent of Public Instruction. He says he is running to “fight complacency in state government.” As superintendent, he was against the Common Core and that got him into many fights with what he called “bureaucratic fiefdoms” and the “deep state.” He was caught in controversy for awarding an $8MM computer-based testing solution when an advisory committee said otherwise, and for monitoring an employee’s text messages illegally. He was also accused of purchasing $6MM in iPads that didn’t follow protocol and happened after a trip to Apple’s headquarters in Silicon Valley.
NC Attorney General:
The NC Attorney General is the top law enforcement officer and top lawyer of the state. According to the NC Department of Justice website, “the Attorney General oversees criminal appeals from state courts to ensure that criminals are kept behind bars and innocent people are not. [The role] also ensures that consumers are protected by going after scam artists and corporate bad actors. The Attorney General protects the taxpayers as well, by providing legal representation to state government agencies, departments and commissions, and by investigating and cracking down on Medicaid fraud.”
Jim O’Neill. O’Neill served as Forsyth County District Attorney since 2009. He ran for NC District Attorney in 2016 and lost the primary (the role is currently held by a Democrat). He says he will address the backlog of sexual assault kits that are with the state, support federal immigration policy (he supports ICE) and not support sanctuary cities, and will fight the opioid crisis. He is also an advocate of the death penalty.
Sam Hayes. Hayes is a conservative candidate who has served as the general counsel for a number of state level positions. His website mentions the importance of enforcing voter ID laws, the 2nd amendment and a number of other conservative issues.
Christine Mumma. Mumma is a career lawyer and says she is conservative. She says she believes in “the sanctity of life” and is the Executive Director of the NC Center on Actual Innocence where she represented and exonerated 9 men who were wrongfully convicted. O’Neill has aired some attack ads claiming that some of Mumma’s clients were in fact guilty.
NC Auditor:
This position performs audits for state governments. Some of the CPAs applying for Treasurer would probably be better suited for this role.
Anthony (Tony) Street. Street is from Brunswick County and has worked in nuclear security and commercial fishing and has operated a small business. He has a master’s in public administration from UNC Pembroke. He says he wants ensure voters know how their money is spent but I’m not sure he has the accounting qualifications to execute this role.
Tim Hoegemeyer. This candidate served in the military and also has an MPA (from NC State). He has been the general counsel to the Office of the State Auditor (though he’s not listed in the NC Auditor’s website as a staff member, presumably because he recently gave notice to run for this role). He has said that he wants to proactively seek out fraud and waste versus just responding to hotline tips.
NC Commissioner of Insurance:
This role regulates the insurance industry in North Carolina, licenses insurance professionals, educations customers about insurance and handles customer complaints about insurance. The salary is $125k
Ronald Pierce. Pierce ran in the last primary for this role in 2016 and appears to have an ax to grind because he believes that Wayne Goodwin (former Insurance Commissioner wrongfully accused him of crimes). On the homepage of his website, he says he believes that the current incumbent (Mike Causey) has “done nothing substantial to correct the situation.” The situation in question is that Goodwin (now the current Chair of the NC Democratic Party) had Pierce arrested on 108 fraud charges in 2014 though Pierce insists they are “false charges.” The charges were ultimately dismissed. Pierce believes that this division of government should support consumers not insurance companies. He also wants to reduce conflicts of interest (eg any employee must wait 3 years before being employed by, say, an insurance company).
Mike Causey. Causey is the incumbent and the State Fire Marshal. He’s an Army veteran and worked in the insurance industry for 25 years. His website says his “goal as commissioner is to fight for more competition in the industry and to combat insurance fraud to drive rates lower for the North Carolina consumer. He is also passionate about making the office more consumer-friendly to help residents attain their insurance needs.” Causey is currently embroiled in the same scandal as Dan Forest who is accused of accepting funds from a wealthy donor who is now accused of bribery. Causey was evidently an FBI informant in that case. (Hat’s off to the Charlotte Observer for great reporting on this issue—long live local journalism.)
NC Commissioner of Labor.
I’m fascinated by this position because it replaces Cherie Berry! You know, the woman whose photo is on every elevator in NC (she’s evidently been in that role for two decades). Berry has had a reputation of being soft on employers who violate labor laws. This position also does a number of other important as well things like inspect amusement park rides and investigate employment discrimination.
Chuck Stanley. There is little information online about Stanley. He doesn’t appear to have a website, nor are there photos that appear on any election related sites.
Josh Dobson. Dobson is currently a state representative and also a former county commissioner. He appears to have raised more money in this race than his opponents. He also doesn’t think this role should be “on a crusade” to prosecute businesses. He has the endorsement of NC Agriculture Commissioner Steve Troxler and NC Congressman Mark Meadows.
Pearl Burris Floyd. Floyd has served in a number of government roles (State Representative, Gaston County Commissioner). Floyd has Berry’s endorsement and says has firsthand experience with workplace safety issues working as a lab safety officer. She is also on the UNC Board of Governors and an African-American woman in the Republican party.
NC Secretary of State:
This role is the head the economic and business-related operations of the state.
EC Sykes. Sykes says he wants to help NC by “bringing transparency and efficiency to our state government with commonsense policies like honoring the rule of law, cutting waste, limiting the size of government, and restoring citizens’ confidence in our government.” His homepage announces that he is “a man of strong faith.” He was a former Ted Cruz campaign volunteer. He does not appear to have any political background but does have a business background.
Chad Brown. Brown is the current Gaston County Commissioner. His website says he is pro 2nd Amendment, pro-life and that he promotes transparency. Below those values, he outlines his positions and accomplishments as county commissioner: in particular, he introduced a small business tax credit. He wants people to know that NC is “open for business.”
Michael LaPaglia. LaPaglia is an entrepreur who also appears to have no political experience. He sees the need to “reduce unnecessary regulation and ease the regulatory burden on business.”
NC Superintendent of Public Instruction.
This person will be a member of the state Board of Education. The role is currently held by Republican Mark Johnson who is embroiled in all sorts of drama (see his description in the Lieutenant Governor section) but is nonetheless running for Lieutenant Governor.
Catharine Truitt. Truitt is a lifelong educator and was an education advisor to Pat McCrory. She is also now the Chancellor of Western Governors University North Carolina. The issues of importance to her are to have qualified teachers in all classrooms, ensure graduates are college and career-ready, and engage public-private partnerships for schools. She doesn’t say anything about charter schools, vouchers or teacher pay which other candidates discuss.
Craig Horn. On 2/24 when I wrote this summary, Horn’s website appears to have been hijacked by an erectile dysfunction company so it was difficult to learn about his past or current positions. From what I can gather, Horn is currently a Union County State Representative. Although he is running for the superintendent role, he actually thinks the governor should appoint the superintendent role (37 states in fact do that).

Here is the Democratic ballot
I won’t go over the presidential candidates but according to the Board of Elections website, most of the candidates who filed will still be on the ballot even though they officially ended their campaigns: Booker, Castro, Gabbard, and so on. And of course, Michael Bloomberg will be on the North Carolina presidential ballot.
US Senate Candidates:
Erica Smith. Smith is a liberal candidate supporting the “Medicare for All,” the Green New Deal and a $15 minimum wage. Smith continues to be in the midst of controversy (though no fault of her own) as she was supposedly receiving fundraising support from Republicans who view her to be a more “beatable” candidate in the general election against Thom Tillis (who conservatives presume to be the frontrunner).
Steve Swenson. Swenson is a far-left candidate. His agenda items are to codify Roe v. Wade and to provide $2 trillion in reparations to African-Americans. Swenson’s website has minimal information and he is not seen as a viable candidate.
Cal Cunningham. Cunningham is an Army veteran and a former State Senator. He now owns a waste reduction company in Raleigh. He is the favorite in this primary race and has raised the most funds. His positions are to expand the Affordable Care Act, expand Medicaid and create a public health insurance option. On the environment, he would like NC to be carbon neutral by 2050 and to cut carbon and public pollution in half by 2030. He believes investing in wind and solar is the path to best transition the economy. Cunningham also supports a $15 minimum wage.
Trevor Fuller. Fuller, like Smith, also supports “Medicare for All,” the Green New Deal and a $15 minimum wage. Fuller is a lawyer at his own law firm and has been involved in local Charlotte politics for several years having served for 3 terms as a Charlotte City Commissioner.
Atul Goel. Goel believes that he can solve the health care crisis but hasn’t outline any specifics on how. He is an immigrant and a pro-gun Democrat. He is a physician, a pilot and an active duty flight surgeon in the US Air Force. He says little on his website about education, income inequality or the environment.
US House or Representatives:
Remember, that this was the role that Dan McCready lost to Dan Bishop in 2017. The winner of this race will contest Bishop in November (Bishop is uncontested in the Republican primary). The lone female candidate is from Mecklenburg County versus the others candidates who are from lesser known parts of the district. That fact should help her.
Harry Southerland. This candidate is from Hoke County (pop 54k) east of Charlotte. He is a lawyer who then started a “sports and entertainment management and consulting agency.” He supports the $15 minimum wage, homeless shelters, aid to “historically black colleges and universities” (Harry is African-American), expanded meals and home repair for seniors, affordable healthcare and aid to veterans/military.
Cynthia Wallace. Wallace was the chair of NC Democratic party District 9. She was an advocate of Dan McCready in the last election and has a platform similar to his: good jobs, affordable healthcare and lower prescription drug costs, high quality public education, improved infrastructure. She is likely to be the front-runner because the other candidates are from rural regions outside of Mecklenburg County and therefore have a smaller base, and are unlikely to attract Charlotte and Union County voters who are essential to winning the election. She also has received the endorsement of groups like Indivisible which played a large role in Dan McCready’s campaign over the last few years.
Marcus Williams. Williams is a lawyer from Lumberton. His issues include job production, environmental protections, educational excellence, universal access to medical insurance. He ran unsuccessfully for Attorney General in 2016.
Clayton Brooks. Brooks, in his early 30s, is a Harvard-educated Baptist minister who believes the “country’s social safety net too often fails the most vulnerable.” He supports lower healthcare costs, job development, and the restoration of educational funding. He is an advocate of veterans and would like to address the over-incarceration of AfricanAmericans.
NC Governor
Ernest Reeves. Reeves appears to have a strong military background (former enlisted soldier, former Escort Officer for the Administrator of Iraq, former military assistant to the staff of an ambassador. His key issues are “strong (safe) schools, communities, good paying jobs, tax breaks for small businesses, lower tuition costs for students, safe zones for our kids, apprenticeship programs for unemployed individuals, and a robust transportation system.” He also wants to expand Medicare and Medicaid. He has run for office nine times since 2014 and has not yet been elected to a role.
Roy Cooper. Cooper is the incumbent Governor who has served since 2017. Pay increases for teachers, which stagnated under Republican governors, is a major milestone under Cooper’s leadership. He has been in NC politics for years having served 4 terms as Attorney General. He lists a number of issues on his website ranging from education and the environment to jobs, infrastructure and disaster recovery.
NC Lieutenant Governor:
This race is 2nd in line to the governor and presides over the NC Senate. Even though it has little power, this article does a good job explaining why anyone would want it. All the Democratic candidates have experience in local or state politics and seem versed in NC issues. None appear to have any serious scandals, arrests or other dubious incidents in their past. The slate also offers some diversity: two candidates are women (Van Duyn and Holley) and three are African-American (Beasley, Newton and Holley).
Allen Thomas. Thomas is the fomer mayor of Greenville NC which is in the eastern part of the state close to the coast. His platform is that he wants to “ensure rural and coastal communities have the resources to rebuild, support economic and infrastructure development and expand access to quality education.”
Bill Toole. Toole is a pro-cannibis candidate and estimates that legalizing it in NC would generate $450MM for the state which he’d like to use to hire a nurse and counselor at every school. “Healthcare and aging” are also important elements to his platform. While Toole sounds like a New Yorker in his ads, he is a native North Carolinean. He’s been an environmental lawyer for 27 years and has worked on “wetland protection, land clean up, and environmental compliance.” He has been a Belmont city councilman and was chair of the Democratic party of Gaston County. Toole has been endorsed by The Charlotte Post.
Terry Van Duyn. Van Duyn comes from a “systems analyst” background. While she has lived in NC for many years, she went to college in Illinois. She is currently a state senator from the Asheville area and has served since 2014. Van Duyn’s website says that she has worked hard to improve public schools, protect the environment, and advocate for a more transparent and effective government. She is considered to be “the favorite and leading fundraiser.”
Chaz Beasley. Beasley is an attorney at Alston & Bird, and is also now an NC House of Representatives member and lives in Steele Creek. He is young and well-educated (he graduated from Harvard in 2008, which would put him in his early 30s, and later from Georgetown Law School) and counts his top issues as education, health care and transportation. He supports higher pay for teachers, broader Medicaid coverage, and more mass transit. He is against privatization efforts like the I-77 initiative. He also pushed for the NC law that teaches financial literacy in schools (at the expense of history classes). Beasley was endorsed by The IndyWeek.
Yvonne Lewis Holley. Holley is from Wake County and has worked hard during her house tenure (which is now over 7 years) to relieve food deserts. Her key initiative includes the “affordable living initiative” which focuses on affordable and attainable housing, affordable and healthy food, economic and workforce development, transportation, and public education. Many of these sound like issues that city councils may be better equipped to handle than the Lieutenant Governor but the issues are critical ones.
Ron Newton. Newton is a former police officer and currently a businessman and lawyer. He has served in various political roles in the past including on a Board of Education and supported Hillary Clinton for president. He ran for the Lieutenant Governor role in 2016 as well. He believes that NC needs a New Direction that can be achieved by a politician (such as himself) who can “ensure health care for everyone, reduce poverty, fund public education, bring about criminal justice reform, attack wealth inequality, protect our environment, and make our government something that all residents can be proud of.”
NC Auditor:
This role has oversight for the accounting and financial functions of the state. It also acts as a watchdog over state agencies so it requires candidates with strong accounting skills. Both candidates running appear to be strong.
Luis Toledo. Toledo is an audit manager for E&Y and adjunct public policy professor at Elon. He seems competent but the key reason to vote for him is that you believe that we shouldn’t have the same elected officials in the same roles election after election (the current incumbent won 3 previous elections).
Beth A Wood. Wood is the incumbent and she is running for her 4th term as the state auditor. On her website, she says she’s saved the NC millions of dollars by auditing things like prison medical billing and employee reviews. She seems competent and I wasn’t able to find anything scandalous about her tenure.
NC Commissioner of Agriculture and Consumer Services
This role exists to find “new markets” for NC farm products, preserve working farms and protect the state’s food supply. The role is currently held by a Republican and is elected every 4 years. This role also manages weights and measures, gas and oil inspection and operates the NC State Fair and state farmers markets. The salary is $125k.
Walter Smith. Smith is a current farmer and the top issue listed on his site is “food insecurity.” He is involved in some local government as well.
Jenna Wadsworth. Wadsworth appears to be an interesting candidate. She was elected to be the Wake County Soil and Water Conservation District Board of Supervisors while she was still in college. She is in her early 30s now. She is from the Triangle area, having attended North Carolina School of Science and Math for high school and NC State for college. She grew up on a farm and her key issues are farmland preservation, not just “writing relief checks.” She supports hemp and cannabis as new crops and has been endorsed by AFL-CIO, NC Sierra Club, Planned Parenthood Votes South Atlantic
Donovan Alexander Watson. Watson says he wants to “maintain and increase number of NC farms”, collaborate with great research institutions, and expand agricultural opportunity. From his website, it is unclear if he has any public service experience.
NC Superintendent of Public Instruction:
This person will be a member of the state Board of Education. The role is currently held by Republican Mark Johnson who appears to now be running for Lieutenant Governor.
Keith Sutton. Sutton is currently is an education innovation consultant. He has a number of points in his platform including more targeted support to underperforming schools, including affected by race and poverty, improvement of teacher and principal compensation and enhancement of wages for support personnel to $15, and support for rural schools.
James Barrett. He has spent his entire career in IT leadership and for 8 years served on the Board of Education of Chapel Hill-Carrboro Schools. The first issue in his platform is to reduce testing for students and “overhaul how we test and why.” His LinkedIn profile describes him as a “public schools advocate and policy nerd.” He was involved in a local controversy in 2018 when he advocated creating a Mandarin magnet school in his school district which was seen as helping affluent white and Asian students at the expense of other minorities.
Constance (Lav) Johnson. Johnson’s key platform issues include teacher pay, recycling, parent classes and free lunch for all students. She comes from a family of four generations of teachers
Michael Maher. Maher’s key issues include transparency and accessibility, charter school, testing and literacy. He has been a faculty member in the education department at NC State, he’s been a public school teacher in Winston-Salem and Wake County, and his website says he’s been a policy leader and state and national education advocate.
Jen Mangrum. Mangrum is also a longtime educator, working on the education faculty at NC State and having been a public school teacher for 14 years. Her key platform elements include expanding funding for classrooms, securing a living wage for personnel and getting spend for digital resources. She is endorsed by NC Teachers United and NC Association of Educators.
NC District Court Judge:
This is a NC court that tries civil, criminal, juvenile and magistrate matters.
Aretha Blake. Blake is currently a district court judge for Mecklenburg County. Blake has been accused of not ruling on cases regarding family law for several years, leaving families in limbo.
Lynna Moen. Moen is a family law attorney in Charlotte for over 7 years. Because of Blake’s poor track record with adjudication, it appears to be worthwhile to consider an alternative.
NC Treasurer:
The treasurer’s office “manages the state’s retirement system, investments, and unclaimed property and provides financial support to local governments.” This includes pension plans, debt issuance, 401k plans and the state’s disability program. The position is currently held by a Republican and elected every four years. That person, Dale Folwell, is a private investor and financial advisor who has served in the NC House. One of the candidates running calls it “the most important position that no one’s ever heard of” because it manages the $95B pension for state employees. From what I could dig up, many state employees’ retiree account values have decreased nearly 20% since the recession which doesn’t match the stock market which has nearly quadrupled since the recession, though the state’s pension obligations have been problematic.
Dimple Ajmera. Ajmera is currently a member of Charlotte’s City Council. She is one of the younger council members (in her early 30s) and is a CPA. She says on her website that she “will work tirelessly for access to healthcare for all, protect taxpayers, and invest in a sustainable infrastructure and resilient future.” Whether she has the chops to manager the $95B pension fund when the largest budget she has managed is the $2B Charlotte city budget seems to be a disconnect.
Ronnie Chatterji. Chatterji is an associate professor at Duke’s Business School and previously served as a Senior Economist at the White House Council of Economic Advisors where he was involved with policies related to “innovation, entrepreurship, infrastructure and economic growth.” He says that climate change is important but it’s unclear how he would change the current investment approach to address that. Many of his tweets include #TheNerdWeNeed. He is endorsed by the AFL-CIO and the NC Association of Educators.
Matt Leatherman. Leatherman was the policy director and staff director, corporate governance committee for the NC Department of State Treasurer and then a research director at FCLT Global. Leatherman’s father was actually the chairman of the Rowan County Republican Party though he is a Democrat. His primary driver of running for office is that his young daughter was born several months premature and spent nearly 6 months in the NICU which led to thousands of dollars in medical bills which he is afraid will be cut for other state employees. Leatherman believes that the incumbent Republican “has been cutting back preventative care programs and also threatening to reduce reimbursements to doctors and hospitals to such levels that a lot of medical offices are worried that they might not be able to stay open, particularly in more rural areas.” I’m a bit concerned about Leatherman because he seems to be running to help select a different healthcare plan for state employees versus managing the multi-billion dollar state pension fund which is the main goal of the state treasury. Personally, it seems like this isn’t the best forum to fix health care which should be a much bigger initiative than the plan that state employees get.
Board of Commissioners at Large (vote for 3):
The Board of Commissioners enacts local ordinances, approves the city budget and oversees spending.
Ella Scarborough. Scarborough is an incumbent. She has left little to no digital footprint of her positions yet she has served in local politics in some role (first as a city councilwoman in 1987) for many years.
Lloyd Scher. Former member of the Mecklenburg County Board of Commissioners.
Brenda Stevenson. Stevenson has been involved at a hyper-local level for the Democratic party. She served as the chair of Precinct 41 and was a delegate at the DNC in Charlotte years ago. She supports affordable housing, food pantries for those in need, and resources for mental health issues.
Leigh Altman. Altman is a public interest attorney and has raised a significant amount of money for her campaign and has received a fair amount of attention. Altman’s key issues include economic empowerment, mental health in schools and communities, reproductive rights and reduction in gun violence.
Pat Cotham. Cotham is also an incumbent on the board. She opposed the proposed county sales tax that failed in November which was supposed to help the fine arts community and schools.
Terra Lee Long. Long hopes to prioritize healthcare and currently serves as chair of the Health Care Justice North Carolina legislative committee as well as a member of the Charlotte Area Fund Board. She is a graduate of UNCC.
Tigress McDaniel. McDaniel is a perpetual candidate on virtually every election ballot. She has run for Charlotte Mayor and for the Soil and Water Conservation Board in the last 2 elections. She generally fares poorly in these elections because it is now known to many voters that has a long list of lawsuits she has filed even though she isn’t a lawyer. She also has a felony arrest for identity theft
Ray McKinnon. McKinnon is a pastor at South Tryon Community United Methodist Church.

Certified Copies of Marriage Licenses Can Now be Ordered

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Sally remains a hurricane and is moving slowly.

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