The votes are in: Duke Law alumni win elected office in legislative and judicial races around the country
Duke Law alumni won judicial and legislative races at the local, state, and national level on Election Day.
Duke Law alumni won elected office in congressional, legislative, and judicial races around the country on Election Day 2022. Duke Law congratulates those who won their races and commends all who ran for office for their commitment to public service.
U.S. Rep. Mike Levin '05, a Democrat, won reelection to his third term representing California's 49th Congressional District, which includes North San Diego County and South Orange County. Raised in South Orange County and a graduate of Stanford University, Levin served as executive director of the Democratic Party of Orange County after his Duke Law graduation and focused his legal career on environmental and energy regulatory compliance and government affairs. He serves on the House Select Committee on the Climate Crisis, the House Committee on Natural Resources, and the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, where he chairs its Economic Opportunity subcommittee.
Democrat Dan Blue, Jr. ’73 has retained his seat in the North Carolina State Senate, representing the 14th Senate district. Blue was first appointed to the 14th Senate district in 2009. Earlier, he served in the North Carolina House of Representatives from 1981 through 2002 and from 2006 until 2009. In the House he served as speaker and chaired the Judiciary Appropriations Committee. The founding partner of Blue, Stephens & Fellers in Raleigh, Blue is past president of the National Conference of State Legislatures and a former chair of the Duke University Board of Trustees.
Natasha Marcus ’94, also a Democrat, kept her seat in the North Carolina State Senate's 41st district as well. She was first elected to the newly drawn 41st Senate district in Mecklenburg County in 2018. Marcus, who received a BA in public policy from Hamilton College before attending Duke Law, practiced law at Brooks, Pierce, McLendon, Humphrey & Leonard and clerked for Judge Frank W. Bullock, Jr. of the U.S. District Court in Greensboro. A resident of Davidson, she is a longtime community organizer and activist.
Richard Dietz MJS ’20, a Republican, won his race to fill a seat left vacant by Justice Robin Hudson’s retirement from the North Carolina Supreme Court. Dietz has served on the North Carolina Court of Appeals since he was appointed by Gov. Pat McCrory to fill an unexpired term in 2014. His current term ends on December 31, 2024. Prior to serving on the bench Dietz was a partner at Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton, where he argued before the U.S. Supreme Court in Abramski v. United States. Dietz is a North Carolina board certified specialist in Appellate Practice and one of two appellate specialists on the Court of Appeals.
Republican Donna Stroud MJS ’14 has won reelection to the North Carolina Court of Appeals. Stroud, who became chief judge in 2021, was elected to the court in 2006 and reelected without opposition in 2014. Stroud began her legal career in 1988 with Kirk, Gay, Kirk, Gwynn & Howell, joining the firm Gay, Stroud & Jackson from 1995 to 2004. During this time she also served as an arbitrator for the 10th Judicial District Court and as a certified superior court mediator. In 2004 Stroud was elected to the Wake County District Court (10th Judicial District), where she served until joining the appeals court in 2006.
Debra Lehrmann MJS ’16, a Republican, was reelected to the Texas Supreme Court. Lehrmann is the longest-serving female Supreme Court Justice in Texas history and has been elected twice to the state's highest court since her 2010 gubernatorial appointment. Prior to her appellate service Lehrmann served as a trial judge in Tarrant County for 23 years.
Democrat Satana Deberry ’94 will serve a second four-year term as Durham County District Attorney after winning the primary and running unopposed in the general election. Deberry practiced criminal defense in Rockingham prior to taking office in 2019 on a reform platform. During her first term Deberry's office partnered with the Wilson Center for Science and Justice at Duke Law on data-driven initiatives including the Plea Tracker project that will generate comprehensive data on the factors that drive case outcomes. Deberry is a recipient of the North Carolina Justice Center’s 2020 Defender of Justice Award for Litigation and the Duke Law Alumni Association’s 2020 Charles S. Murphy Award for Civic Service.
Democrat Matt Calabria ’09 won reelection to his fourth term on the Wake County, N.C., Board of Commissioners, to which he was first elected in 2014. Calabria is an attorney with Wallace & Nordan in Raleigh, where his practice focuses on commercial and public interest litigation as well as commercial transactions. He also is a mediator certified by the North Carolina Dispute Resolution Commission to conduct mediations in North Carolina’s Superior Courts.