Jennifer Renee Wells

Jennifer Renee "Jenny" Wells is the incumbent District Court Judge for North Carolina’s First Judicial District and is seeking election to retain that seat in the 2026 general election. The First Judicial District covers Camden, Chowan, Currituck, Dare, Gates, Pasquotank and Perquimans counties, and its judges preside over criminal, civil, family and small‑claims matters, applying state law and ensuring due process for all parties involved. Judges are required to be licensed attorneys, residents of the district, and to demonstrate good moral character and competence; they are elected to four‑year terms, though a special election will be held in 2026 to fill the remaining two years of a vacancy created by Judge Edgar Barnes’s retirement ¹¹.

Wells was appointed to the bench by Governor Josh Stein in March 2025 after leading a bar‑association poll of district attorneys and public defenders ¹¹. The governor’s press release highlighted her experience as a public defender, noting that she would be a “fair and hard‑working jurist.” Since her appointment, she has earned a salary of roughly $162,000 per year ¹¹. As a registered Democrat, she will appear on the Democratic primary ballot for the 2026 judicial race ¹¹.

Born and raised in northeastern North Carolina, Wells graduated from Dare County Public Schools before earning a bachelor’s degree from Tulane University and a Juris Doctor from Campbell University School of Law ¹². After law school she returned to her home region, beginning an 11‑year tenure as an assistant public defender in the First Judicial District ¹²¹¹. In that role she represented thousands of indigent clients, handling misdemeanors, felonies and complex negotiations, including high‑profile cases such as the defense of John “Jay” Tolson in a second‑degree murder trial ¹¹. Her public‑defender experience is complemented by an early internship with the Southern Coalition of Social Justice during her second year of law school ¹¹.

Wells’s appointment was supported by the First Judicial District Bar Association, where she received the most votes among attorney nominees ¹¹. Since taking the bench, she has emphasized fairness, patience and an open‑minded approach to each case ¹². The 2026 election will be a contested judicial race, pitting her, a Democrat, against a Republican challenger, marking a departure from the typically uncontested district‑court contests in the area ¹¹.

Beyond her judicial duties, Wells remains engaged with the community that raised her, drawing on her local roots and legal experience to advocate for equitable treatment under the law. Her campaign materials present her as a dedicated public servant committed to upholding the integrity of the North Carolina judicial system ¹².

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