Four Democrats Vie for Two Guilford County District Court Seats Before Primary

Four Democratic candidates are competing for two open Guilford County district court judgeships ahead of the March 3, 2026 primary, and Guilford County Democratic ballots will include multiple district-court contests on that date. Officials list Seat 12 and Seat 13 among the contested posts voters will see, while reporting also indicates two incumbents are facing challengers this cycle.

District court judges in Guilford County serve four-year terms and handle civil cases involving less than $25,000, criminal misdemeanors, juvenile court matters and oversight of magistrates who process small claims and evictions. Those jurisdictional limits shape the caseload at stake in the March 3 primary contests.

Seat 12 is a Democratic primary between Gavin Reardon and Kelvin Smith. Gavin Reardon is a partner at Rossabi Law Partners in Greensboro and, with Amiel Rossabi, represented 10 police officers in a 2016 case against defendant Zared Jones; attorney Graham Holt represented Jones in that matter. The public record supplied does not include a professional biography or public statement for Kelvin Smith.

Seat 13 pits incumbent Brian Tomlin against challenger Moshera Mills. Tomlin was appointed in March 2019 by Gov. Roy Cooper to fill the vacancy left by Judge Lora Cubbage and had practiced as a lawyer for 23 years before joining the bench. Tomlin said, "I just hope to do my job really well in a way that people feel that they’ve been treated fairly," and added that he wants people to think "the results of their case was just." The supplied reporting does not include a background or quote from Moshera Mills.

A campaign photo caption accompanying candidate coverage listed Tomakio Gause, Angela Foster, Brian Tomlin, Caroline Pemberton, Gavin Reardon, Kelvin Smith, Michele Lee and Moshera Mills, though full seat assignments for those individuals were not detailed in the materials provided. Public election listings for District 24 show other incumbents as well, Marc Tyrey (incumbent) listed for one seat and Larry L. Archie (incumbent) for another, and note that some Republican primaries were canceled; the numbering systems in local reporting and statewide listings are not reconciled in the records reviewed here.

Voters should note the March 3, 2026 Democratic primary date and verify which district-court contests appear on their ballots. County election records and statewide candidate listings indicate candidate rosters may change, and local election officials can confirm which seats are officially open, which incumbents are running and whether any primaries have been canceled.