Pair of judicial candidates switch party ahead of election

WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) — Judicial races in North Carolina are non-partisan, but a pair of candidates in one local race for judge have switched parties ahead of November’s election.

District Court Judge Sherry Prince, who serves Bladen, Brunswick and Columbus counties, and her challenger Assistant District Attorney Fred Gore each changed their party affiliation last month from Democrat to Republican.

Columbus County Elections Director Carla Strickland says Gore, of Whiteville, switched parties Aug. 15. Ten days later, she says, Prince, of Tabor City, also joined the GOP.

“I’m a conservative at heart,” Gore said when reached by phone this afternoon. “After being affiliated with the GOP in Brunswick County and working for (District Attorney) Jon David, I wanted to make sure my conscious was right and fit my conservative values.”

Gore said part of that is his 22 years serving in the National Guard and his support of a robust military.

Prince was a law partner of former NC Sen. R.C. Soles and was appointed to her position Gov. Bev Perdue, who are both Democrats.

As of this afternoon, Prince was listed as a recommended candidate on the Brunswick County Democratic Party’s website.

In an e-mail to WWAY Friday evening, Prince says party has nothing to do with her work as a judge, as it has no bearing on the laws she is charged to uphold, and she seeks the support of all voters regardless of their party affiliation.

“While I have previously been a registered Democrat, I have been deeply troubled by the current federal administration’s deviations from policies and practices with which I had always been comfortable as a moderate Democrat,” Prince said in her statement. “In recent years this growing conflict has caused me to re-examine my personal and political philosophy, particularly relating to fiscal issues, and I now find myself more closely aligned on a majority of issues with the Republican Party. This is not an evolution on my part, but rather an increasing personal discomfort with the general direction in which the National Democratic Party leadership is heading.”