Up and Coming Weekly is a weekly publication in Fayetteville, NC and Fort Bragg, NC area offering local news, views, arts, entertainment and community event and business information.
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8 UCW JUNE 27-JULY 3, 2018 WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM e filing period for ju- dicial races in Cumberland County opened this week. e Fayetteville Observer is report- ing that longtime incumbent Tal Baggett is being challenged by former Assistant District Attor- ney Caitlin Young Evans. Other District Court judges may face challengers. Rumors abound about potential filings, but they always do in District Court races. It's best to wait and see who files. One rumor that has been circulating for a while did come true last week, and it will set up a collision of power, party and politics in what may be the most interesting judicial election in recent memory. District Court Judge Lou Olivera announced that he will run in Superior Court District 12C against Mary Ann Tally or Jim Am- mons. e "or" is what makes this an interesting race. Earlier this week, after it was announced that Olivera had filed, I previewed the race on my blog as a three-way race with the top two vote-getters winning. is is how it has taken place in past elections in Dis- trict 12C. Instead, it appears that due to a complex ar- ray of events in the legislature and the federal courts (that would fill up most of my space to explain), Olivera may have to choose which sitting judge to challenge. e un-challenged judge will simply keep his/her current seat, assuming no one else files. A quick summary of the three candidates and what may happen: Jim Ammons is the chief resident Superior Court judge, clothed in the immense power of his office, but he left the Democratic Party several years ago and will be listed as "unaffiliated" on the ballot. Ammons has held a judge- ship in Cumberland County since 1988 and has a campaign machine that has been oiled and tuned over the decades. To put it simply, he wins, repeatedly. Mary Ann Tally is the Democratic stalwart, a former Public Defender with a family name that runs deep in Cumberland County. Her mother-in-law, Laura, served as a legislator and a North Carolina senator for decades. As a judge, Tally has been popular with the local bar and is seen as effective, hard-working and fair. She's going to get Democratic votes and is the only woman in the race, an inherent advantage. e wild card, Lou Olivera, left the Democratic Party in 2014 and will run as a Republican. He should receive party-line support as the only (R) in the race, but he may get more than that. Olivera received national attention when he spent the night in jail with a veteran he sentenced. His celebrity and time on the District Court bench provide him with strong crossover appeal. Olivera may get votes from both sides of the isle. If Olivera runs against Tally, it will set up a classic Democrat versus Republican showdown. e lines and differences will be easily drawn. Due to the success of Democratic women in judicial races in Cumberland County as of late, Olivera would have a tough road. e more interesting and more likely scenario is Olivera running against Ammons. is race would be inherently unpredictable. Both men have name rec- ognition in the community. Who will get the Demo- cratic votes with no Democrat on the ballot? Who will the women of Cumberland County choose? It's a toss-up if there ever was one. For me to predict the outcome, I need to know the following: can Olivera pull minority votes in Novem- ber despite having an (R) beside his name on the bal- lot? Can he do it in this particular election, a Trump referendum of sorts? If so, he may unseat a sitting Superior Court judge. If not, he picked a really bad time to become a Republican. Editor's note: Matt Richardson is an attorney at e Richardson Firm and covers Fayetteville and North Carolina politics on his website: crosscreekdivide.com. Judicial election preview for Cumberland County by MATT RICHARDSON OPINION District Court Judge Lou Olivera will run against Mary Ann Tally and Jim Ammons in Superior Court District 12C. MATT RICHARDSON, Attorney, Richardson Law. COMMENTS? editor@upandcomingweekly.com. 910-484-6200. M A G A Z I N E b y , f o r & a b o u t Fayeeville Women