DURHAM, N.C. (AP) - A Durham City Council member will join the North Carolina House now after the death of the legislator she had been likely expected to succeed early next year.
Durham County Democratic activists meeting online Thursday chose Vernetta Alston unanimously to fill the seat left vacant when Rep. MaryAnn Black died on March 25. Gov. Roy Cooper is obligated by state law to appoint Alston to the seat, to serve through December.
The General Assembly scheduled its annual session to begin April 28.
Alston was the only candidate running in 2020 for a two-year term that begins in January for the seat covering Black’s heavily Democratic 29th House District. Black announced late last year that she wouldn’t seek reelection.
Alston is an attorney who has worked at the Center for Death Penalty Litigation. Her appointment to the legislature will create a vacancy on the Durham council.
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