District Court Judge, District 26, Seat 20 (Mecklenburg County)

Karen McCallum has been a Mecklenburg County district court judge since January 2019 and sits in the district's domestic court²³. She was a senior assistant district attorney on the Mecklenburg habitual felon team from 2016 to 2018 and, before that, a conflict attorney with the public defender's office for 14 years³. She is unopposed on the November 2026 ballot in this partisan race¹.

• District Court Judge, 26th Judicial District, since January 1, 2019, assigned to district domestic court²³
• Senior assistant district attorney, Habitual Felon Trial Team, Mecklenburg County District Attorney's Office, 2016 to 2018; conflict attorney, Office of the Public Defender, 2002 to 2016; assistant Department of Social Services attorney; U.S. Army veteran³
• B.A. in criminal justice, Temple University; J.D., University of North Carolina School of Law³
• Elected on November 6, 2018, defeating Khalif Rhodes 56.2 percent to 43.8 percent, and took office January 1, 2019; reelected without opposition on November 8, 2022². Both 2026 primaries were canceled and she is unopposed in November²¹.