{"biography":"> **Editorial note \u2014 lost March 2026 primary.** Mills placed 2nd of 2 Democratic candidates in the March 3, 2026 primary for NC District Court Judge, District 40, Seat 03, in a close race \u2014 receiving 19,564 votes (48.6%) to winner Ben Scales's 20,691 votes (51.4%); Mills will not appear on the November 3, 2026 general-election ballot [3].\n\nAccording to the North Carolina voter file, James Hardy Mills is a registered voter in Buncombe County, North Carolina, registered since 2005 (21 years), with party affiliation listed as Democratic [1].\n\nThe voter file shows James Hardy Mills's year of birth as 1975; NC publishes only the year of birth in its bulk voter export, so day and month are not part of the public record [1].\n\nThe voter history file shows 10 elections voted in since 2016, most recently the 2026-03-03 primary election [2].\n\nThis summary draws only from the public North Carolina voter registration and history records. No additional published biographical information was located. Voters with personal knowledge of James Hardy Mills can reach ballotproject.org with corrections or additions.\n\n## Sources\n[1] [North Carolina State Board of Elections \u2014 Voter Search](https://vt.ncsbe.gov/RegLkup/)\n\n[2] North Carolina State Board of Elections voter history file (`ncvhis_Statewide`), published at [dl.ncsbe.gov](https://dl.ncsbe.gov/)\n\n[3] [North Carolina State Board of Elections, March 3, 2026 Official Precinct-Level Results](https://s3.amazonaws.com/dl.ncsbe.gov/ENRS/2026_03_03/results_pct_20260303.zip) \u2014 NC District Court Judge District 40 Seat 03 Democratic primary, accessed 2026-07-24","campaigns":[{"contest":"district_court_judge_dist_040_seat_03","county":null,"county_count":0,"electiondate":"Tue, 03 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT","pgr":"general","state":"NC","title":"Nc District Court Judge District 40 Seat 03"}],"cf_filings":[],"firstname":"James","fullname":"James Hardy Mills","lastname":"Mills","middlename":"Hardy","office_history":[{"campaigns":[{"contest":"district_court_judge_dist_040_seat_03","contest_title":"Nc District Court Judge District 40 Seat 03","county":null,"county_count":0,"electiondate":"2026-03-03","office_county":null,"office_key":"district_court_judge","office_title":"District Court Judge","party":"DEM","pgr":"general","state":"NC"}],"county":null,"cycles":[{"general":{"contest":"district_court_judge_dist_040_seat_03","contest_title":"Nc District Court Judge District 40 Seat 03","county":null,"county_count":0,"electiondate":"2026-03-03","office_county":null,"office_key":"district_court_judge","office_title":"District Court Judge","party":"DEM","pgr":"general","state":"NC"},"party":"DEM","primary":null,"term":null,"year":2026}],"office_key":"district_court_judge","office_title":"District Court Judge","state":"NC","terms":[]}],"summary":"Per the NC voter file: DEM voter in Buncombe County since 2005.","terms":[],"token":"083bd5b5c2a90971"}