Gov. Pat McCrory announced Thursday that he has appointed Jeff Hunt, the district attorney for Henderson, Polk and Transylvania counties, as a special Superior Court judge.
“I’m pleased and proud the governor has illustrated his confidence in me by appointing me to this special Superior Court judgeship, which will be headquartered in the western part of the state,” Hunt said in a statement.
The Hendersonville Times-News reported that Assistant District Attorney Doug Pearson will be sworn in as acting district attorney.
According to a statement from McCrory’s office, Hunt began his career in law with the firm Long, McClure, Parker & Hunt, a trial firm in Asheville and Marshall.
Information on the district attorney’s website said that Hunt graduated from Wake Forest University in 1972 with a bachelor’s degree in economics. In 1975, he received his law degree from Wake Forest University and was licensed to practice law in the same year. He was, from 1981 through 1985, the in-house trial and labor counsel for the Olin Corporation, Ecusta Group, in Brevard. He returned as a partner to Long, Park, Hunt, Payne and Warren in 1988.
It goes on to say that Hunt is currently a charter member of the board of trustees of Transylvania Community Hospital Foundation and that he served various terms on several state boards and commissions, including the Board of Economic Development, the Banking Commission and the Personnel Commission between 1984 and 1992, having been appointed to each position by Gov. James Martin.
First elected in 1994, Hunt was reelected without opposition in 2010 as district attorney for the 29B Prosecutorial District. In 2012, he ran unsuccessfully for the Republican nomination to the 11th Congressional District, which covers much of Western North Carolina. According to WHKP, Hunt has been active in Republican politics, including co-chairing McCrory’s Western North Carolina campaign for governor in 2008.
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