James Weldon Whalen

The Election Hub Questionnaire

Please provide demographic information about yourself to help voters (age, education, current occupation, where you live).

I am originally from Charlotte and a proud product of Charlotte-Mecklenburg public schools. I am a graduate of East Mecklenburg High School, UNC Asheville, and UNC School of Law, where I graduated with honors. I now live in Raleigh with my wife and son (with one on the way), dog Sherlock, and cat Clue. I am 32.

Why are you running for this role and why should voters pick you? Please share your previous experience in elected office that would be relevant to voters.

Our rights are under attack, and we deserve judges who will defend them.

I am part of a small group of North Carolina attorneys fighting to protect our rights in high-profile cases, including in the court I am running to join. Last year, I defended Justice Allison Riggs’s victory and stopped a dangerous attempt to steal an election. I previously served as an appellate attorney in Josh Stein’s Department of Justice, where I fought gerrymandering, fought for our public schools, and held domestic abusers accountable.

My experience has made me clear-eyed about the threats we face and what it will take to protect our rights.

My primary opponent believes that judicial candidates should be silent about issues and not criticize our current Republican majorities. This is the same failed strategy that has led Democrats to lose every Court of Appeals campaign since 2018. If we lose this time, there will not be a single Democrat left on the Court. To win, we must learn from past mistakes and support candidates who will speak clearly with voters about the stakes in this election.

Trial judge experience is valuable, but the Democrats who have been successful statewide have not been trial judges. Justice Anita Earls and Justice Allison Riggs did not have judicial experience before joining our appellate courts. Instead, they had experience protecting our rights in our appellate courts. I am the only candidate for this Court of Appeals seat with any Court of Appeals experience. I have defended our rights as an attorney and will protect them as a judge.

Tell us 1-2 professional accomplishments you have achieved in your work experience (not limited to public service) that give voters a sense of your leadership style or skills.

My law firm was hired in 2023 to protect voters across NC. I recruited and trained nearly 200 attorneys across our state and litigated against six different attempts to disenfranchise voters. On election day, Justice Allison Riggs won reelection, but the losing candidate filed hundreds of protests across all 100 counties. I worked nights, weekends, and holidays for six months to protect our votes, including in the Court of Appeals. To be clear, I did not know or care if the voters I defended were Democrats or Republicans. I only knew that they had followed the rules and were entitled to have their votes count. We ultimately succeeded when we persuaded a federal judge who had been appointed by President Donald Trump to count all lawful votes and recognize Justice Riggs's victory.

In 2022, I served in the NC Department of Justice, Office of the Solicitor General. We were a small group of five appellate attorneys tasked with litigating the most consequential cases involving NC. That year, the NC Supreme Court held that extreme partisan gerrymandering is unconstitutional. Unsatisfied, the NC General Assembly appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court. They argued that they were not limited by the NC Constitution and were free to gerrymander as they wished. Our office defended our state constitution and won a 6-3 victory in Moore v. Harper. We won on the law, but lost on the politics. In 2023, a newly-elected Republican majority reversed its prior decision and welcomed extreme partisan gerrymandering back to NC.

These experiences have convinced me that the only way to secure our rights is to support a new generation of candidates who have experience protecting our rights in court and who can win these tough elections.

What endorsements from any notable North Carolina organizations or people have you received?

I am proud to have endorsements from nearly 100 current and former elected officials from across our state, including all five former Supreme Court Justices who have endorsed in this race since I announced my campaign.

I am proud to have been endorsed by:

- Chief Justice Henry Frye,

- Chief Justice Burley Mitchell

- Associate Justice Bob Orr

- Associate Justice Patricia Timmons-Goodson

- Congressman G.K. Butterfield

- Congresswoman Eva Clayton

- Representative Aisha Dew (Mecklenburg)

- Representative Jordan Lopez (Mecklenburg)

- NC National Organization for Women PAC

- Durham Committee on the Affairs of Black People

- Raleigh-Wake Citizens Association

- Guilford County Community PAC

- George C. Simkins, Jr. Memorial PAC

- Henderson-Vance Black Leadership Caucus

- Bladen Improvement Association

And many more. A full list is available at WhalenForNC.com/endorsements

How long have you lived in the region/district where you are running for office?

The Court of Appeals is a statewide court, and its judges are elected statewide. I have lived in North Carolina my whole life.

Tell us something unexpected about yourself that voters may be interested to know.

Our family loves to dance! My wife grew up dancing. I only took one short swing-dancing class in college, but it was enough to win a second date. We wowed our wedding guests with our first dance. Our son inherited his mother’s moves and my music taste, and was the only two-year-old at school to dance to the Blues Brothers.