Much has changed about Wake County—not to mention the state, nation, and world—since incumbent District Attorney Lorrin Freeman was first elected as the county’s chief prosecutor in 2014.
After growing by more than 200,000 people (or about 20%) in the last decade, Wake became the state’s most populous county. The year 2016 saw the rise and election of Donald Trump. A global pandemic followed in 2020, as did widespread civil unrest, the likes of which are playing out again in the streets of cities across the country as stepped-up federal immigration enforcement becomes increasingly violent.
All of these events have impacted the DA’s office, and it will be a much different place for Freeman’s successor—in all likelihood, one of three Democrats running in the March 3 primary—when they step into it in 2027. (No Republican filed to run.)…