RALEIGH -- Baby-faced and soft-spoken, Steven Walker doesn't look his age.
Even if he did, that still wouldn't convince many in the state's legal community that he's ready to take a seat at the N.C. Court of Appeals, a job usually filled by lawyers with decades of experience.
At 30, Walker has been a lawyer for five years, most of them clerking for state Supreme Court Justice Edward Thomas Brady.
Walker is squaring off against Rick Elmore, an incumbent and a former longtime criminal defense lawyer from Greensboro.
It's a contest no one predicted. Before the primary in May, few took Walker's candidacy seriously. Lawyers and those paying attention to the race considered Leto Copeley, a lawyer from Hillsborough and a Democrat, as Elmore's threat.
But voters surprised judicial insiders. Walker scored more votes than any candidate running for the Court of Appeals. He claimed 39 percent of the votes in his four-person race, outpacing Elmore by 10 percent. Though judicial races are nonpartisan, both Walker and Elmore are Republicans.
"None of us thought he'd make it through the primary ...," Copeley said. "I don't think most people had any idea they were voting for someone with so little experience."
North Carolina forces its judges to be politicians. Court of Appeals judges must hit the campaign trail every eight years, shaking hands at Rotary Clubs and county fairs by weekend and writing some of the state's most important legal decisions come Monday. In the hands of voters, judicial elections can yield surprises.
Walker's success has, in part, been buoyed by the support of tea party members, who have mobilized impressively for the fall election and endorsed candidates in just about every contest.
"The tea party adopted me, and I was glad to be adopted," Walker said in an interview. "You've got a group that wants to get back to founding principles, and that's what I'm about."
Naysayers will tell you Walker cleaned up in the primary because of a false but positive association with other judges who share his last name. Walker will tell you he worked hard and that voters like his politics. Elmore, 59, admits Walker is a legitimate threat, though he regards Walker's challenge, and criticisms of his work, as audacious.
"I don't choose to defend my opinions against someone who has never written one," Elmore said in an interview.
Judges voice concern
Many in the state's legal establishment say it's untenable for a rookie to step into a position typically claimed by lawyers with years of litigation or judicial experience. Over the years, legislators have tried to tighten the requirements for those seeking to be judges. The legislature required that judicial candidates be lawyers; now, there's talk of a screening committee to weed out inexperienced candidates before they are put on the ballot.
This summer, four former chief justices of the state Supreme Court issued a letter on behalf of Elmore, calling Walker's candidacy unusual and concerning. Burley B. Mitchell Jr., a former Supreme Court Chief Justice and one of the authors of the letter, said Walker is a nice guy who needs time to ripen.
"You are judging judges on how they run proceedings in court," Mitchell said. "Real litigation experience is important."
Mitchell said he's impressed, though, with how Walker flourished on the campaign trail. "And if he winds up being as good at judging as he is campaigning, it may be all right," he said.
Walker's zeal
On the bench, Walker is untested. On the campaign trail, he is sellable. Walker is a pastor of a Baptist church in Selma. At campaign events, he sometimes holds his 4-month-old son while his oldest two children trail behind with his wife, his former high school sweetheart. He tells voters he reads the Constitution like he reads the Bible: literally. Since he stepped into the race in February, Walker has put 32,000 miles on his Toyota Yaris, traveling to community events across the state.
James F. Davis, chairman of the Clay County Republican Party in Western North Carolina, is a tea partyer who latched onto Walker this spring and has been spreading the word.
"Judicial candidates typically parse their words," Davis said by phone. "Steven is outspoken. He said he was a conservative who believes in the Constitution. So do I."
Elmore's reserve
Elmore tells voters the same thing: He's a longtime conservative who says he applies the Constitution and case law when making decisions.
Elmore is reserved. He holds long pauses before answering, and when he does, he offers few words. He is studious, often taking home case briefs and law books to read at night to prepare for the next day.
On the campaign trail, those virtues often fall flat. His children are grown; he is not married. He hedges when asked how he feels about issues that may find their way to his court, refusing, as most judicial candidates do, to predict how he'd decide any case.
Elmore spent time this campaign season addressing groups of lawyers, which have endorsed him. But he's unsure how that will resonate.
Davis, the Clay County Republican, predicts Elmore's support from the legal community will rub voters the wrong way.
"People aren't terribly fond of lawyers and will take that as a sign," he said.
News researcher Brooke Cain contributed to this report.
Get the biggest news in your email or cellphone as it's happening. Sign up for breaking news alerts.
The jury deliberating the John Edwards case broke for a long holiday weekend Friday with no verdict and no indication of how close together or far apart they are on any of the six counts. Meanwhile, courthouse observers are abuzz about alternate jurors dressing in the same colors. 
The barely 2-week-old campaign for governor has gotten off to a raucous start, with a lawsuit, threats of “evisceration” and the two national parties wading in playing hard ball. 
A campaign commercial funded by the Democratic Governors Association includes facts about Pat McCrory’s corporate ties but may lead viewers to distorted conclusions. 
Most modern U.S. presidents have played golf, but it's touchy, since many people view it as an expensive, elite sport. President Barack Obama plays golf a lot, but he won't let the news media see him do it. 
Activists who made the video may have broken law, a state elections official says. The activists apparently were trying to build support for efforts to require voters to present photo identification at polling places.
While GOP candidate Pat McCrory portrays the state as staggering, Walter Dalton, the state’s Democratic lieutenant governor, says North Carolina is on the rebound. 
John Edwards might be the one with the most to win or lose with the jury deliberating his fate, but the U.S. Department of Justice has a lot riding on his case, too. 
A lawyer for Republican Pat McCrory’s gubernatorial campaign is telling TV station managers to stop airing an ad that raises ethical questions about his relationship with a Charlotte-based lending and real estate company. Keep up with the latest political stories with our free daily e-mail newsletter, delivered straight to your inbox!
Subscribe to Politics - it's free!
Voters face an unusual race on their ballot Tuesday. One seat on the Court of Appeals has attracted 13 candidates because James A. Wynn Jr. resigned in August to take an appointment to the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The State Board of Elections will condense Tuesday's votes into a "primary" stage as well as the final election.
Here's how it works: Voters will select their top three favorites in order of their support. Election officials will count everyone's first choice. If no candidate gets a majority of votes at that phase, officials will identify the top two vote-getters.
From there, election officials will count up votes for those two candidates in the "second favorite" column, not counting those voters who marked the same voter in the prior column. Those will be added to votes earned in the first count. If one claims the majority, a winner emerges. If not, officials will repeat the process for "third favorite" column. The candidate with the most total votes wins.
