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February 18, 2024 14 mins

Unlock the secrets behind the Republican race for NC Court of Appeals Judge, Seat 15, as I share a comprehensive analysis of candidates Chris Freeman and Hunter Murphy. . Be informed, be prepared, and join us on this episode to understand the values and experiences shaping the candidates who seek to earn your trust in the upcoming primaries.

Chris Freeman & Hunter Murphy

NC Deep Dive’s Voters’ Guide for the 2024 Primary Election

Ballotpedia

WRAL’s Voters’ Guide

Raleigh News & Observer Voters’ Guide

INDY Week’s Candidate Questionnaire

Campaign Finance Reports for All Candidate Committees

Voter Information
--Register to Vote
--Voter Info (Designated Polling Places, Sample Ballots, Registration Status, Voting Jurisdiction, Verify Address and Party Affiliation)
--Election Information
 --Election Day Voting FAQs
--Absentee by Mail FAQs

Closest Early Voting Locations
February 15th-March 2nd

W.E. Hunt Recreation Center in Holly Springs

Hilltop Needmore Town Park & Preserve

2024 Primary Election Early Voting Bus Route Guide

 ELECTION DAY
 Tuesday, March 5th from 6:30 AM to 7:30 PM

Support the show

As always, if you are interested in being on or sponsoring the podcast or if you have any particular issues, thoughts, or questions you'd like explored on the podcast, please email NCDeepDive@gmail.com. Your contributions would be greatly appreciated.

Now, let's dive in!

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Transcript

Episode Transcript

Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Amanda Benbow Lunn (00:10):
Hello friends, thanks for joining me
and the NC Deep Dive.
I am your host, AmandaBenbow-Lunn, and we are delving
into the 2024 primary election.
Each episode will cover adifferent race that will be on
your primary ballot thiselection.
When you go to vote, you willbe handed a ballot based on your
address and party affiliation.

(00:31):
If you are unaffiliatedsometimes also referred here as
independent then you will haveyour choice of which party's
ballot you would like to vote.
Please note that you are onlyable to cast one ballot and that
there are no primary ballotsfor the Green Party or the no
Labels Party.
Moreover, candidates for thegeneral election in November who

(00:52):
do not have a primarychallenger will not appear on
your primary ballot.
They get a pass directly to thegeneral election.
Due to time constraints and theplethora of candidates, and my
belief that having as muchinformation as possible is of
vast importance, our primaryelection segment will consist of
me covering one race at a time,as time allows, and going over

(01:15):
each candidate's website andwhat I can find on a simple
Google search, in case it iseasier for you to take in
information this way.
If you are short on time, youcan check out our NC Deep Dives
Voters Guide for the 2024primary election, found pinned
to our Facebook page or on thisepisode's show notes at www.
ncdeepdive.
com.

(01:38):
It will be an easy way toaccess each candidate's website
and research the candidates onyour own.
If that's a better use of yourtime, without further ado, my
friends, let's dive in.
Next up we will be looking atthe Republican ballot for the NC
Court of Appeals Judge for seat15.

(02:00):
The two candidates for thisrace are Chris Freeman and
Hunter Murphy.
First, we will start with ChrisFreeman.
His website ischrisfreeman4judge.
com.
It says Chris Freeman for NorthCarolina Court of Appeals and
Experienced Conservative Judgewho defends the Constitution and
enforces the laws.

(02:20):
As written.
I'm Judge Chris Freeman and I'mthrilled to announce my
candidacy for the North CarolinaCourt of Appeals in 2024.
For the last 17 years I've beenhonored to serve the people of
Rockingham and Caswell countiesas a District Court Judge and
Assistant District Attorney.
I aim to bring my steadfastcommitment to the conservative

(02:41):
judicial philosophy to theappellate court level, serving
all North Carolinians.
In my third term as a DistrictCourt Judge, I've dedicated.
In my third term as a DistrictCourt Judge, I've dedicated
nearly two decades to publicservice.
Before joining the bench, Iserved as an Assistant District
Attorney for eight yearsfighting for justice in our

(03:01):
communities.
Track record advocacy andjustice upholding North Carolina
justice for 17 years Militaryservice.
In 2013, I took my commitmentto service a step further by
joining the United States AirForce.
I'm proud to currently serve asa reservist in the JAG Corps,
providing legal expertise to ourmilitary Community involvement.

(03:22):
Community is important to me.
I'm an active member of theOsborne Baptist Church in Eden,
north Carolina.
I hold board positions with theBetsy Jeff Penn 4-H Center, the
Mon Rotan Volunteer FireDepartment, the NWTF Sora Town
Chapter and the United Way ofRockingham County.
Education and philosophy I'm anative North Carolinian, born

(03:43):
and raised.
I attended high school inAshboro, north Carolina, and
later earned a BS in businessadministration from High Point
University.
I obtained my law degree fromRegent University, where I was
influenced by the institution'smotto Christian Leadership,
change the World, it says.
Thank you for visiting mywebsite.
I'm working hard to meet asmany people as possible, but you

(04:03):
can help.
Please look me up on Facebook.
Don't forget to share my pagewith all your friends across the
state.
Then he has a Facebook page anda LinkedIn button and that
appears to be the entirety ofhis website.
I did look him up on ballotpedia.
He did not complete thequestionnaire that they have,
but it does list his campaignfinance stuff For this 2024

(04:25):
election.
From January 1st of 2023through December 31st of 2024,
his contributions total $25,895.
He has 75 unique contributors.
His expenditures have been$7,654 with 36 unique payees.
I do not see anything by way ofendorsements on his page and

(04:49):
basic Google search didn't bringup anything of substance.
He I did not see anything onIndie Week for him.
Chris Freeman did notparticipate in our NC Deep Dive
Voters Guide.
There is information about himfrom WRAL's Voters Guide and
they just compiled things thatthey found online.

(05:09):
Moving on to Hunter Murphy,doing a basic Google search of
him, I had difficulty finding awebsite Looking up on WRAL's
Voters Guide.
It links to his North Carolinacourtsgov page, which is North
Carolina Judicial Branch.
It talks about his early years.
Born in Arizona on January 24th1981, to Jeff and Melanie

(05:34):
Murphy.
Judge Murphy was raised inWainesville, north Carolina,
with two brothers, kyle andBlake, and was a varsity swimmer
at Tascola High School.
He married Kelly in 2009 and isthe father of twins.
A member of the Pinnacle Churchof Canton.
His educational information hewent to the University of the
Pacific McGeorge School of Law,he got his JD in 2006,.

(05:56):
University of North Carolina atChapel Hill, he got his
Bachelor's of Arts in Economicsand Religious Studies, and that
was 2003.
His professional background apartner at Ryden or Murphy and
Goss from 2006 to 2012,.
A solo practitioner at HunterMurphy Law PC from 2012 to 2016.
Professional organizations he'sbeen a part of the North

(06:19):
Carolina State Bar since 2006,.
The Eastern Band of CherokeeIndians Tribal Bar in 2006,.
The Federal District Court forWestern District of North
Carolina in 2009, and the NorthCarolina Bar Association
Criminal Law, constitutional Lawand Appellate to Law Sections.
His hobbies and communityactivities listed are Coaching,

(06:40):
little League, attendingsporting events, enjoying time
with his children, wife and twodogs.
But again, this is theNCQuartzgov page.
It's not his campaign page.
I had difficulty finding that onthe Google search as well.
I found two things that mightbe relevant for some voters.
There was a ruling withdrawnand there were a few different

(07:04):
articles from a few differentsources on this, but basically,
a controversial opinionpublished by the North Carolina
Court of Appeals back in Octoberof last year was withdrawn,
effectively making it as if itnever was written.
The decision dealt with thetermination of a mother's
parental rights because she hadcommitted a crime while she was
pregnant, judge Hunter Murphy,the Republican running in this

(07:27):
primary, ruled that her parentalrights could be terminated even
though the child hadn't yetbeen born at the time of the
mother's crimes because quoteunquote life begins at
conception.
Legal professionals criticizedthe ruling, which they said
misconstrued the precedent onwhich it relied, and warned that
it could profoundly affectfamilies across the state it's

(07:49):
quoted.
We have a case of judicialactivism here where, rather than
other entities like thelegislature trying to enshrine
personhood, we have judges doingthis.
Eugene H Soar, clerk of theNorth Carolina Court of Appeals,
signed an order stating thatjudges Murphy, jefferson Griffin
and Toby Hampson all of whomconcurred in the opinion though
Hampson concurred and resultonly, meaning he agreed with the

(08:12):
outcome but not the reasoninghad ordered that the opinion be
withdrawn, and that means thepotential precedent it had
established regarding personhoodno longer exist.
So that was one piece of newsthat showed up on the Google
search.
The other was again there weremultiple news reports that
stated it.
Murphy, who was a trial attorneyfrom Haywood County, was

(08:32):
censured in 2020 for enabling atoxic work environment.
According to NC Newsline, afriend who Murphy, hired as his
executive assistant, startedbullying and harassing
co-workers and exhibited apattern of making lewd or
sexually inappropriate remarksin the workplace.
The reports note that Murphyalso participated in making
jokes and inappropriate comments.

(08:53):
According to Ballotpedia,hunter Murphy did not answer the
candidate connection surveyquestionnaire.
It lists campaign financeinformation and for this
election, 2024, from January 1stof 2023 through December 31st
of this year, his totalcontributions have been $1,896.

(09:16):
He himself is the onlycontributor to his campaign.
According to this, hisexpenditures are the same amount
and that is what he paid theNorth Carolina State Board of
Elections to, I'm guessing, runfor this race.
And that is all that I foundthrough a simple Google search
of both these candidates.

(09:36):
And again, this is for the NCCourt of Appeals Judge, seat 15.
This will be on the Republicanprimary ballot.
The two candidates again areChris Freeman and Hunter Murphy,
and neither of themparticipated in our NC Deep Dive
Voters Guide and I hadmentioned that I didn't see
anything on Indie Week for Chris.

(09:57):
I also did not see anything onIndie Week for Hunter Murphy
either, but again, wral's VoterGuide.
That basically, is acompilation of things that they
found online, so you might beable to find information there
as well.
Democracy is the foundation ofall we hold dear.
We are better as a community,state and nation when we all

(10:19):
take part in our civic duty bybeing informed and casting our
vote.
The candidates and offices onyour ballot can have a major
impact on our everyday lives andcan have real consequences.
They create and enforce ourlaws, invest in our future
well-being, fund all the thingslike our schools and roads,
ensure we have safe drinkingwater and food to put on our

(10:42):
tables and advocate on behalf ofthose they represent, hopefully
keeping in mind both the littleand the big picture of it all.
Early voting is now going on andwill continue through Saturday
March 2nd.
Our closest early votinglocations will be the WE Hunt
Center in Holly Springs and theHilltop Neymour Town Park and

(11:02):
Preserve in Fuqua Verena.
The main primary election willbe held on Tuesday March 5th.
If you vote that day, it's bestfor you to go to your
designated polling place or elsesome of the races you are
eligible to vote for may notshow up on the ballot they have
available to give you Duringearly voting.
Each area in Wake County hasall the possible ballots.

(11:23):
For Wake County Election day.
They will only have the ballotthat corresponds directly to
that particular precinct.
Please remember you now need tobring your photo ID.
If you happen to forget or havehad some extraordinary
circumstance happen, you willhave a few different options
provided to you, but it will bebest and easiest and most
efficient to bring it with you.

(11:44):
If, for some reason, youhaven't registered to vote yet,
you may register and vote at thesame time during early voting
at any one of the sites.
March 2nd will be the last dayto register to vote for this
primary election, and thatbrings this episode of the NC
Deep Dive to a close.
Make sure you check out all theother relevant episodes for the

(12:05):
2024 primary election at www.
ncdeepdive.
com, apple Podcasts, spotify,audible or wherever you
currently listen to yourpodcasts.
I will be including helpfullinks for each candidate and
voting in general on ourwebsite's show notes, including
our NC Deep Dives Voters Guidefor the 2024 primary election.

(12:27):
We were blessed to have manycandidates take the time to
share their thoughts and speakto voters within Southern Wake
County.
The Voters Guide is arranged byparty affiliation and organized
in such a way to make itrelatively easy to find the
races or candidates you might beinterested in.
All candidates' websites arelinked.
If I was able to find one, Ialso consciously chose to

(12:48):
arrange the Voters Guidestarting at the end of the
ballot.
So often we are aware of thelarger races, yet don't hear
much about, or take the time tolearn about, the smaller races.
As always, if you have anyquestions, concerns or topics
you'd like to share, you maycontact us via social media or
our email at ncdeepdive@gmail.
com.
Thank you for engaging withthis episode and becoming a more

(13:10):
informed citizen.
Democracy is a team sport.
Together, we make democracywork and our communities a
better place to work, play andlive.
Your vote matters, your voicematters.
You matter.
Until next time, my friendsNamaste, the love and light in
me sees and honors the love andlight in you.
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