Industrial Commission Counsel Elected Judge
Wednesday, December 5, 2018 | 0
Brian Ratledge, the general counsel for the North Carolina Industrial Commission, has been elected as a trial court judge in Wake County.
Ratledge, a Republican, took over as general counsel at the commission in January 2017.
On Nov. 6, he won 38,615 votes, or just over 30%, in the five-person race for the bench spot in District 10D, Seat 2, which includes part of Raleigh, the state capital. His last day at the Industrial Commission, which oversees workers' compensation regulations, was Nov. 30, the commission announced.
This was the first year that North Carolina allowed open general elections for the post, with Democrats, Republicans, and unaffiliated candidates all on the Nov. 6 ballot, with no primaries held.
The election was not without some controversy.
Republicans accused Democrats of putting up a "fake" Republican candidate to run against Ratledge, in order to dilute the GOP vote. If that was the case, it didn't work, and Ratledge was elected with 2,400 more votes than his closest opponent, Democrat Rebecca Anne Edwards, according to official Wake County election results.
Ratledge had previously served as chairman of the Wake County Board of Elections, then was briefly general counsel at the North Carolina Department of Administration.
"While the commission will miss his wise legal advice and sense of humor, we wish him the best of luck in this next chapter," the Industrial Commission posted on its website.
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