Jones announces candidacy for District Court Judge in the May 2026 Republican Primary

Kyle Jones, an Assistant District Attorney and former County Commissioner in Perquimans County who served for three terms on that County’s Board of Commissioners until 2024, announced Tuesday night at the Currituck County Republican Party’s January meeting that he intends to file as a candidate for District Court Judge in the May 2026 Republican Primary.

The First Judicial District is comprised of Camden, Chowan, Currituck, Dare, Gates, Pasquotank and Perquimans Counties. Jones, 39, is an employee of District Attorney Jeff Cruden, and worked for eight years under then-District Attorney, now-Superior Court Judge Andrew Womble. District Court Judge Edgar Barnes retired earlier this month after a 28-year career on the bench, and Jones said that it is Barnes’s seat he is seeking to fill. “Judge Barnes is a man of the highest character, and has served the State honorably for more than two and a half decades.”

Jones started out in private legal practice doing mostly criminal defense, as well as work on the civil side of District Court, and his career as a prosecutor began in 2013. He has since been assigned to represent the State of North Carolina in Superior Court in every county except Dare, and has handled “tens of thousands of cases in District Court over all seven counties. On an average week, I probably handle a couple hundred cases in District Court, at minimum.” Jones characterized his reputation as a prosecutor as “steady, even-tempered, fair, and consistent.”

While a judge’s party affiliation has never mattered in the outcome of any case he’s ever had, he said that voters still want to know what party he is affiliated with, and where he falls on the ideological spectrum. He is proud to tell them that he is a conservative Republican, and has always been a Republican since he registered to vote at the age of 18.

“With a very public record 12-plus years old of being a conservative Republican elected official, what you can say with absolute certainty when you walk into that voting booth is that ‘Kyle Jones is exactly who he says he is.’” Jones also pointed to his job approval for twelve years as a County Commissioner, mentioning that he first got elected in November 2012 at the age of 27, becoming the youngest person ever elected to the Perquimans County Board of Commissioners. “The ballot box tells no lies. Every time I asked the voters to send me back to the position I had, they not only sent me back, but they gave me more votes each successive election.” He credits his electoral and professional success to working hard, being honest about what he knows and doesn’t know, and treating people the way he wants to be treated.

Jones said he formed his campaign committee the day after Barnes announced that he was going to retire, in late-October. Since then, he has “been going around and quietly talking to attorneys, members of the business community, and friends, and despite the fact that I haven’t had a single fundraising event, I’m proud to say that we’ve built a campaign war chest of over-$30,000 since October 30th. I’m going to keep my foot on the gas, as I both expect and welcome opposition.”

He added that the timing of Barnes’s retirement meant that it will fall to Governor Stein to appoint someone to Barnes’s seat. The appointee will have to stand for election in 2026 to fill the remainder of Barnes’s term through the end of 2028.

The local District Bar met in mid-December to offer a list of names to send to the Governor for appointment, however the Governor is not bound by that list and may appoint anyone of his choosing that possesses the requisite qualifications to hold the job. Jones said he specifically asked that his name not be put forward, because he intends to go to the same source for this elected position as he had his entire career as a County Commissioner – the voters.

Among his experience outside the courtroom, Jones said that he is also a business owner. He has flipped several residential homes, and owns residential rental properties that he and his wife Grace, a theater teacher at Perquimans County High School, now manage. He listed his experience outside the courtroom, stating that not only was he on the Board of Commissioners, but he served as Chairman of the Board of Commissioners at the age of 32, Chairman of the Albemarle District Jail Board, Chairman of the Juvenile Crime Prevention Council/Inter-Agency Council, and now serves as a member of the Albemarle Alliance of Children and Families Board of Directors, and as a member of the Board of Trustees at his church, New Hope (formerly-United Methodist) Church.