Martin Moore Wins Democratic Primary, Clinches Buncombe County District Attorney Seat

Martin Moore, a Buncombe County commissioner and attorney, emerged as the projected winner of the three-way Democratic primary for Buncombe County district attorney held March 3, 2026, a victory that is effectively decisive because no Republican filed for the office. The March 3 projection followed a contest with Courtney Booth and Katie Kurdys, and leaves Moore as the presumptive next DA pending official certification.

Moore has served on the Buncombe County Commission with a term listed as 2022 to 2026 and filed to run for district attorney in a Dec. 1 press release in which he also announced he would not seek re-election to the commission. In that press release Moore wrote, "My perspective as a former Public Defender would be rare as a District Attorney in North Carolina. I hope to have a greater impact on my community as District Attorney and use my experience to assure equal justice for all residents of Buncombe County." County biographical material lists Moore as a graduate of UNC–Chapel Hill and the University of North Carolina School of Law and says he began his career in public service as an attorney in Buncombe County.

The primary was a three-way Democratic race against longtime public defender Courtney Booth and prosecutor Katie Kurdys. Boltsmag reported Booth has made prosecuting federal agents who break the law locally a core promise of her campaign and has accused the incumbent DA, identified only as Williams in Boltsmag’s coverage, of allowing prosecutors to use North Carolina’s "habitual felony" scheme to seek extended prison terms for low-level felonies such as passing a bad check. Booth told Boltsmag, "They’re going to keep whittling away power. I fully anticipate that." Kurdys, who has also signaled willingness to prosecute federal agents when warranted, told Boltsmag, "We’re already treated like the ‘redheaded stepchild’ of western North Carolina. So would I let that prevent me, or be fearful of blowback? No, I wouldn’t, because the right thing to do is the right thing to do."

Campaign logistics in the supplied materials note Moore’s Dec. 1 filing included a list of endorsements and that he is building a coalition of local elected leaders, though the specific endorsers were not included in the excerpt provided. Official vote totals, percentages, precinct-level breakdowns and formal certification from the Buncombe County Board of Elections were not included in the supplied material and remain to be posted by election authorities.

The race unfolded in a policy environment Boltsmag described as shaped by recent state laws that have contributed to a ballooning jail population and increased transfers to ICE custody, and by local anxiety that immigration raids like those in Charlotte could appear in Asheville. Moore told Boltsmag, "We have a really interesting state landscape of watching our legislature implement all kinds of laws that are having tremendous, often negative impacts on local communities," framing the choice voters made in the March 3 primary.

With no Republican challenger, the projected Democratic winner is widely treated as the presumptive district attorney, but the supplied sources did not specify when Moore would be sworn in, whether election results had been certified, or the full name and response from the incumbent DA referred to as Williams. County officials, the Moore campaign and the offices of Booth and Kurdys were identified in the reporting as relevant contacts for those outstanding items.