_______
Murphy – There are no contested races among District 43 seats on the March 2026 ballot.
The district includes Cherokee, Clay, Graham, Haywood, Jackson, Macon and Swain counties. It is one of the largest geographical districts in the state. It is also the only district that borders three states: South Carolina, Georgia and Tennessee.
The candidates are:
- District Court judge seat 1, Republican Donna Forga of Lake Junaluska has filed.
- District Court judge seat 2, Democrat Justin B. Greene of Bryson City has filed.
- District Court judge seat 3, Democrat William “Bill” Jones of Waynesville has filed.
- District 43 district attorney, Republican Ashley Welch of Canton has filed.
For the judgeships, two candidates – Greene and Jones – were appointed to the bench and are running for election for those seats for the first time.
Donna Forga
Forga was appointed to serve as chief district court judge by N.C. Supreme Court Chief Justice Paul Newby in December 2024. She was first elected to the bench in 2010.
Forga received her undergraduate degree from UNC Asheville and law degree from the University of North Carolina School of Law. Prior to her election, she was in private practice and later a staff attorney for Legal Aid of North Carolina. As chief district court judge, she replaced Roy Wijewickrama, who was appointed to Superior Court judge by then-Gov. Roy Cooper.
Justin Greene
Greene was appointed to serve as District Court Judge in then-Judicial District 30, serving Cherokee, Clay, Graham, Haywood, Jackson, Macon and Swain counties. He filled the vacancy created by the retirement of Kristina Earwood.
Greene had been a solo practitioner serving as county attorney for Swain County, a counsel for the Graham and Swain County Departments of Social Services, counsel for the Cherokee County and Clay County Guardian ad Litem programs, and contract counsel for Western North Carolina Legal Aid. He also served as conflict counsel for the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians Legal Assistance Office.
He received his undergraduate degree from UNC Carolina Chapel Hill. His Juris Doctorate is from the N.C. Central University School of Law.
Bill Jones
Gov. Josh Stein appointed Jones to the District Court for Judicial District 43, serving Cherokee, Clay, Graham, Haywood, Jackson, Macon and Swain counties, in February. Jones filled the vacancy created after Roy Wijewickrama was appointed to the Superior Court in November 2024.
Jones most recently served as a solo practitioner for more than two decades, specializing in domestic and criminal law. He also served as an assistant district attorney for the 30th Judicial District from 1998 to 2003. Jones received his B.A. from Western Carolina University and J.D. from the University of North Carolina School of Law.
Ashley Welch
Welch has been district attorney for this area since 2015 and, before that, an assistant DA from 2003, when she began her legal career, to 2005, and then the 43rd Prosecutorial District from 2005 until she became DA in 2015.
She received her undergraduate degree from UNC Chapel Hill and law degree from William & Mary School of Law in 2003.