North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper has appointed 2018 Guilford County Superior Court Judge candidate Lora Cubbage to serve the remaining term of Judge Patrice Hinnant, a former Guilford County Superior Court judge who retired in August.
Cubbage’s terms lasts until Dec. 31, 2018 – and she will remain in the seat if she wins in the November election.
Cubbage was sworn in as Superior Court judge at a small ceremony at 4:30 p.m. on Monday, Oct. 22, in Courtroom 4-C of the Guilford County Courthouse in downtown Greensboro.
Cubbage, who’s been campaigning hard this year for the seat on Guilford County Superior Court (District 18A), is running against Guilford County District Court Judge Mark Cummings. The two Democrats are vying to fill the open seat created when Hinnant announced that she would not run for reelection.
Cubage said she was thrilled with the appointment by Cooper.
“This is a huge honor,” she said, adding quickly that she still has to win the election to hang onto the seat.
“Judge Hinnant retired on August 31, and he [the governor] has been vetting candidates to see who to fill it with,“ Cubbage said.
She said it was an honor to be the one chosen.
Cubbage said the governor likely would have filled the vacant seat earlier but dealing with hurricanes took up quite a bit of the governor’s time.
“Hurricane Florence got in the way,” Cubbage said.
She said she believes her record in the judicial field helped her get the appointment.
“I feel like I have a great work record and have been consistent, firm and respectful,” she said.
Cubbage has been an assistant attorney general in the North Carolina Department of Justice and was serving as a Guilford County District Court judge before being sworn in as Superior Court judge. From 2007 to 2011, she was an assistant district attorney for Guilford County.
“I served under Guilford County District Attorney Doug Henderson she said.
Cubbage is a member of the Greensboro Bar Association, the Junior League of Greensboro and the Love & Faith Christian Fellowship Church.
Born in Luray, Virginia, Cubbage graduated from Page County High School in Shenandoah, Virginia.
Before coming to North Carolina in the mid-’90s, as a single mother, Cubbage obtained her master barber license and she cut hair to provide for her daughter as well as work her way through college.
Paying the bills with hair shears, she obtained an undergraduate bachelor of science degree from North Carolina A&T State University and a juris doctor from UNC Chapel Hill School of Law.
