Research status
- Evidence confidence
- 72%
- Score coverage
- 20%
- Recommendation
- No endorsement
- Last reviewed
- 2026-07-24
Official ballot record · Published research
Craig Collins
Republican candidate for NC COURT OF APPEALS JUDGE SEAT 03.
Superior Court Judge Craig Collins previously served as a district court judge, assistant district attorney, and private-practice attorney.
Campaign finance
NCSBE reports $215,745.85 in election-cycle receipts, $47,300.83 in expenditures, and $171,243.28 cash on hand through 06/30/2026.
Open finance source ↗Campaign links
Funding composition
Where the money comes from
Named individual contributions$177,688.79 · 82.4%
Unitemized individual contributions$2,527.06 · 1.2%
Party committees$7,630 · 3.5%
Other political committees$27,900 · 12.9%
Material funding concerns
TODD JOHNSON FOR NC SENATE · $6,800
This is material institutional funding; its sponsor, purpose, and relationship to the candidate warrant scrutiny.
DAVE CRAVEN FOR NC · $5,000
This is material institutional funding; its sponsor, purpose, and relationship to the candidate warrant scrutiny.
View the complete official filing ↗
Personal donations are not attributed to a donor's employer. Independent expenditures are reported separately from money received by the campaign.
Evidence-gated scorecard
How this candidate measures up
Worker-policy alignment
No sufficiently specific, validated worker-policy position is published.
Evidence confidence: 0%Record reliability
A complete promise-versus-record comparison has not passed validation.
Evidence confidence: 0%Funding independence
Official filings show party and other political-committee receipts equal to approximately 16.5% of the displayed funding breakdown. This does not infer donor motive.
Evidence confidence: 90%Democracy and ethics
No sufficiently specific, validated democracy or judicial-rights position is published.
Evidence confidence: 0%Transparency
The reviewed profile publishes 2 source-linked evidence items and labels candidate statements separately from official records.
Evidence confidence: 72%insufficient evidence
Promises: Published candidate commitments are shown as statements.
Record: A complete office-appropriate comparison of official actions is not yet published.
The missing comparison is a risk and prevents unsupported conclusions.
0/10 answered
Questionnaire participation is not treated as positive or negative evidence during the launch period.
Developing campaign
Reported receipts exceed $100,000. Organization and competitiveness still require separate evidence.
Risks and uncertainty
What remains uncertain
Governing record not fully compared
An official governing or judicial record exists, but a complete issue-by-issue comparison is not yet available. This blocks endorsement unless other validated evidence is unusually strong.
Evidence record
What the sources establish
Campaign biography
Experience
The campaign lists Collins as an assistant district attorney from 1997–2006, a private-practice owner from 2007–2016, a district court judge from 2016–2024, and currently a superior court judge.
“Assistant District Attorney, 1997-2006 ... District Court Judge, 2016-2024 ... Currently a Superior Court Judge”
Official NCSBE filing
Campaign finance
NCSBE reports $215,745.85 in election-cycle receipts, including $7,630 from party committees and $27,900 from other political committees, through June 30, 2026.
“Total Receipts $215,745.85; Total Expenditures $47,300.83; Cash on Hand $171,243.28.”