RALEIGH — Republican Tom Murry has won the race for seat 12 on the North Carolina Court of Appeals over incumbent Democrat Carolyn Thompson.
While results are unofficial, Murry has taken in 50.99% of the vote to Thompson’s 49.01%.
Murry did not face a challenger for the Court of Appeals seat as the March primary for the race was canceled.
Murry is a council member at-large in the Town of Morrisville and has held positions as an assistant district attorney within the executive leadership at the N.C. Judicial Branch and as an adjunct professor of law at Regent University School of Law.
He is also an Army veteran and serves as a judge advocate in the N.C. Army National Guard. Murry was deployed to the Middle East from 2017 to 2018.
Murry, now 47, previously served in the General Assembly House as the representative for District 41 (2010-14). In the 2014 election cycle, Murry was defeated by Democrat Gale Adcock for the seat. He left that office on Jan. 1, 2015.
Murry received his law degree from Campbell University School of Law and holds a doctorate in pharmacy from the University of Arkansas.
Tom and his wife have two daughters in college and one young son.
Gov. Roy Cooper appointed Thompson to the Court of Appeals on Sept. 11, 2023, to replace Judge Allison Riggs, who Cooper elevated to the state Supreme Court after Riggs served only about nine months on the Court of Appeals. Cooper had appointed Riggs to the Court of Appeals spot in December 2022.
Thompson, an attorney by trade, faced no primary challenger as the Democratic primaries for the race were canceled.
Thompson previously served as a deputy commissioner on the North Carolina Industrial Commission and as a district court judge and superior court judge in District 9. Her campaign website says she is a “state-certified mediator for Superior Court cases and cases involving complex family financial disputes.”
The 56-year-old Thompson received her law degree from North Carolina Central School of Law. She also holds a bachelor’s degree in sociology-criminal justice emphasis (1990) from Hampton University, in Hampton, Virginia, as well as “matriculated courses as a Master of Divinity degree candidate” from the Shaw University School of Divinity (2006–08).
