Judge Candidate Drops Out, Seeks Public Defender Appointment

A candidate for a Forsyth County judgeship has dropped out of the race but will still be on the November ballot.

Stacey Rubain says in a Facebook post that instead of running for superior court judge, she will try to become the county's chief public defender.

Steve Hines, Forsyth's director of elections, says the general election ballots have already been printed. Almost 1,000 absentee ballots have been put in the mail. He says while Rubain may have publicly dropped out, the elections office will still treat her as an active candidate.

“Those votes will be tallied and they will be reported," he says. "If she were to win it would be up to her whether or not to take the oath of office.”

Rubain and challenger Richard Gottlieb advanced after being the top vote-getters among three candidates in the May 6 primary. Gottlieb earned about 65 percent of the primary vote, compared to 18 percent for Rubain. Gottlieb will now run unopposed in the general election even though Rubain's name will still be on the ballot.

The public defender position came open earlier this month when Judge William Z. Wood decided not to re-appoint Pete Clary to the position. Clary had been public defender for 11 years. Judge Wood will appoint his replacement. Rubain was challenging Gottlieb for the seat held by Judge Wood, who did not seek re-election this year.