{"campaigns":[{"candidatename":"Tracey L. Henderson","chatgptsummary":null,"notes":null,"party":"DEM","person":{"biography":"## Current office and 2026 campaign\nTracey Lavelle Henderson serves as a District Court Judge in Judicial District 14 (Cumberland County), Seat 4. She was appointed to the position by Governor Josh Stein in April 2025 and was sworn in on June 13, 2025, filling the vacancy created when Judge Stephen Stokes was elevated to Superior Court. Her appointment runs through the end of Stokes's original term; Henderson must stand for election in 2026 to retain the seat.\n\n## Background and education\nHenderson graduated from Fayetteville State University. She earned her Juris Doctor from Thomas M. Cooley Law School in Lansing, Michigan. She was admitted to the Georgia Bar in 2011 and the North Carolina Bar in 2015. Henderson is a military veteran.\n\n## Career\nBefore her appointment to the bench, Henderson founded and operated The Henderson Firm in Fayetteville, where her practice focused on family law, immigration, personal injury, traffic offenses, and estate planning.\n\nHenderson serves as president of the Cumberland County Bar Association.\n\n## Sources\n- [1] [New Cumberland County judge, Tracey Henderson, to take office June 13 \u2013 CityView NC](https://www.cityviewnc.com/stories/new-cumberland-county-judge-tracey-henderson-to-take-office-june-13/)\n","firstname":"Tracey","lastname":"Henderson","middlename":"Lavelle","suffix":null,"token":"c277e05cf3d91aa6"},"token":"kb3mFdJGF1Awg34v"}],"choices":null,"description":null,"district":null,"districtgroup":null,"districtgroupname":null,"districtname":null,"job_type":null,"o.office":"district_court_judge","office":"district_court_judge","officedescription":"In North Carolina, a district court judge presides over the high-volume lower trial court \u2014 misdemeanors, smaller civil cases, and most family and juvenile matters (custody, support, domestic violence, abuse/neglect). Many litigants appear without lawyers.","officequalities":"- Judge of a high-volume district court \u2014 misdemeanors, smaller civil cases, and family and juvenile matters, often with unrepresented parties.\n- Judicial temperament: the willingness to listen, deliberate, and apply the law dispassionately to people whose lives are deeply affected by the outcome.\n- Impartiality and ethics under the North Carolina Code of Judicial Conduct, including recusal when conflicts arise.\n- Working knowledge of family, juvenile, and criminal procedure and the precedent that controls.\n- Efficient management of a heavy docket while honoring due process.\n- Accessibility and clarity for the many who appear without counsel.","officeterm":4,"officetitle":"District Court Judge","partisan":1,"pgr":"general","quantity":1,"referendum":null,"source":null,"title":"Nc District Court Judge District 14 Seat 04"}