Self-proclaimed prison abolitionist wins primary for North Carolina judge, to run unopposed in November

A self-proclaimed jail and prison abolitionist has won the primary race for the District Court judge for Seat 18 in North Carolina's 26th district.  

Habekah Cannon, 33, beat incumbent Judge Cecilia Oseguera by less than 4,000 votes on Tuesday in the primary, per the Charlotte Observer. She got 52 percent of the vote while Oseguera was only able to clinch 48 percent. Over 96,000 ballots were cast in the election.

Cannon is a former public defender who had her own law firm. No Republican chose to run in the race, so Cannon is running unopposed in the general election come November. “Abolitionist oriented and community minded," Cannon's website previously said. "We’ll get you out of that cage.”

Although that text is no longer on the website, her bio reads, “Habekah is an abolitionist."

In 2020, it was reported that Cannon said she was asked to resign as a public defender for "not drawing wide enough margins between my work as an Assistant Public Defender and my activism.”

She was also arrested three times during the George Floyd riots in 2020 while she claimed to be offering legal services to those arrested in the riots. The charges related to her arrests were later dismissed.

In an interview with a local outlet, Cannon claimed that she would be “impartial” if she became judge. “My role as an attorney is an advocate ... When I become judge, when I put on that robe and take that bench, I have to be impartial.”

Oseguera disagreed with her assessment. “I do not believe, I firmly do not believe that advocacy has any part in the judiciary,” said Oseguera.