The Role of Gender in Judicial Campaigns: North Carolina Trial Court Races

Women comprise an increasing percentage of the legal profession, and their access‐to state judgeships is affected by their ability to compete in state judicial elections. This study draws upon the 1998 North Carolina District Court races to examine the impact of gender upon judicial campaigns. This study provides a comparative analysis of how women candidates and men candidates compete in judicial campaigns. Its findings suggest that, although women judicial candidates experienced little or no difficulty in financing their judicial campaigns, they might nevertheless have to confront other barriers to becoming trial court judges.