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Incumbent Judge Easily Wins Contentious Race

Judge Aretha Blake - District Court Judge
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A district court race in Mecklenburg County that received an unusual amount of media attention turned into an easy victory for the incumbent. 

It all started in early February when WBTV reported former family, now juvenile district court judge Aretha Blake essentially wasn’t doing her job. The TV station reported Blake had taken years to enter orders in dozens of cases leaving families hanging in the balance.

Blake said the story was inaccurate, defamatory, and could jeopardize her reelection campaign. But she easily defeated her Democratic opponent, family law attorney Lynna Moen, with over 67% of the vote.

While the story received a lot of media attention, it wasn’t on the minds of voters WFAE spoke to Tuesday.

Blake took WBTV reporter Nick Ochsner to court last week trying to prohibit the station from airing a follow up story. The court ruled against her saying it would be a violation of the first amendment.

Sarah Delia is a Senior Producer for Charlotte Talks with Mike Collins. Sarah joined the WFAE news team in 2014. An Edward R. Murrow Award-winning journalist, Sarah has lived and told stories from Maine, New York, Indiana, Alabama, Virginia and North Carolina. Sarah received her B.A. in English and Art history from James Madison University, where she began her broadcast career at college radio station WXJM. Sarah has interned and worked at NPR in Washington DC, interned and freelanced for WNYC, and attended the Salt Institute for Radio Documentary Studies.