Christine M Walczyk

Christine M. Walczyk is a Democratic District Court judge for the 10C Seat 2 of the North Carolina 10th Judicial District and is the Democratic nominee for North Carolina Court of Appeals Seat 3 in the November 3, 2026 general election ¹. She has served on the Wake County District Court bench since her 2007 appointment and was re‑elected without opposition in 2020 and 2024, most recently winning 100 % of the vote in the 2024 general election ¹.

Born in Raleigh and raised in South Florida, Walczyk returned to North Carolina in 1992 to attend law school. She earned a magna cum laude B.S. in Management with a finance concentration from Boston College’s Carroll School of Management and received her Juris Doctor from the University of North Carolina School of Law at Chapel Hill in 1995 ³.

Before joining the judiciary, she co‑founded the Raleigh firm Grafstein & Walczyk, P.L.L.C., where she represented small businesses, indigent criminal defendants, and juveniles in delinquency matters for more than a decade ⁵⁷. Her legal practice emphasized access to justice for marginalized populations.

Appointed to the District Court by the governor in 2007, Walczyk has been repeatedly elected by voters, most recently in 2024, and has held several leadership positions. She served as Lead Family Court Judge from 2013 to 2021, during which she introduced remote hearings, created an overflow courtroom to reduce backlog, and developed instructional resources for self‑represented litigants ⁷. She currently serves as Lead Judge in the General Civil Court, overseeing the mandatory arbitration program and handling small‑claims appeals, evictions, and contract disputes ⁷. Four chief judges—three Democrats and one Republican—have nominated her for these leadership roles, underscoring bipartisan respect for her judicial temperament ⁵.

Walczyk’s professional affiliations include the National Association of Women Judges’ Judicial Independence Committee, the North Carolina Bar Association’s Women in the Profession Committee, and chairing the Judicial Division of the North Carolina Association of Women Attorneys. She has taught paralegal courses at Meredith College and Wake Technical Community College and mentors law students through externships and community‑service projects.

In 2026 she is seeking a seat on the Court of Appeals, citing a “public loss of confidence in the court system” and a commitment to restore trust through impartial, non‑partisan decision‑making ⁵⁸. Her campaign emphasizes judicial independence, addressing racial inequities—recognizing implicit bias and supporting resources for self‑represented litigants—and bail‑system reform ⁷⁸. She has earned endorsements from former Chief Justice Cheri Beasley, former Justice Robin Hudson, the North Carolina Association of Educators, and numerous state legislators and judges ⁸¹⁰.

Walczyk resides in Raleigh, continues to serve as a district judge while campaigning statewide, and positions herself as the most experienced trial‑court judge in Wake County, offering a seasoned perspective to the appellate bench.

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