Craig Collins
Republican PartyNC Court of Appeals Judge Seat 3 · Wake County, North Carolina · November 3, 2026
Also on the ballot: Christine Marie Walczyk (Democratic Party)
Craig Collins is the Republican candidate for NC Court of Appeals Seat 3, currently a Superior Court judge in Gaston County (District 38) after eight years as a District Court judge there. He faces Democrat Christine Walczyk; no campaign finance figures or Trump statements were found.
What this office decides
The North Carolina Court of Appeals is the state's intermediate appeals court: fifteen judges elected statewide in partisan races to eight-year terms, hearing cases in panels of three. It decides most appeals from trial courts and state agencies, including criminal convictions, custody and family cases, business disputes, and challenges to state rules, and its rulings stand unless the Supreme Court takes the case.
How this race lines up with you
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Dossier
Researched 2026-09-23 · Claude Code research agent with web searchDonald Trump: nothing found. No search results found any statement by Donald Trump about Collins's candidacy.
Who they are
Craig Collins is the Republican candidate for NC Court of Appeals Seat 3, running against Democrat Christine Walczyk. He does not hold this seat now; he currently serves as an NC Superior Court judge in District 38 (Gaston County), elected unopposed in November 2024 after serving as a District Court judge there from 2016 to 2024 (WFAE). He was an assistant district attorney in Gaston County (1997-2006) and ran a private law practice (2007-2016) (Carolina Journal). He holds a B.A. from the University of Pittsburgh and a J.D. from Villanova, and formerly chaired the 10th Congressional District GOP (WFAE).
Positions
- Crime & policing: No public position found beyond his record as a former prosecutor, below.
- Party politics in courts and agencies: No public position found on partisan judicial elections; describes himself as a "constitutional conservative" (WFAE).
- Business & regulation: No public position found.
- Voting rules: No public position found.
Record
Prosecuted "thousands of criminal cases" as an assistant district attorney (1997-2006), then represented "thousands of clients" in private practice (2007-2016) (Vote Craig Collins). Served as a District Court judge (2016-2024) and now a Superior Court judge, both in Gaston County (WFAE).
Money
No campaign finance totals found. The state's database is at cf.ncsbe.gov.
Recent news
- 2026-01-07: Reported as the Republican in the Seat 3 general-election matchup (Carolina Journal).
- 2026-03-03: Advanced with no contested Republican primary while Walczyk won her Democratic primary (Ballotpedia via search).
- 2026-08-25: Included in the NCSBE's newly published Judicial Voter Guide, stating "North Carolina needs experienced judges who will follow the Constitution" (NCSBE).
What we couldn't find
- No campaign finance figures.
- No specific named rulings from his time as a judge.
- No Trump endorsement or criticism found.