Matt Judge named executive director of North Carolina Republican Party

Matt Judge, the North Carolina Republican Party’s political director, is being promoted to executive director of the state party.

He succeeds Jason Simmons, who was named the state party chairman last month.

It’s the latest move in a leadership shuffle that started with the departure of former North Carolina GOP Chairman Michael Whatley, who left the state party last month after being voted chairman of the Republican National Committee.

Judge is expected to play a key role in trying to deliver North Carolina to the GOP’s presumptive presidential nominee, Donald Trump. Trump faces Democratic President Joe Biden in a presidential rematch in November. North Carolina was the only battleground state Trump won in 2020, which was among the reasons the former president backed Whatley to run the national party.

Helping the GOP maintain control of the state legislature and state Supreme Court are also expected to be priorities for Judge.

“Matt is uniquely qualified to step into the executive director role and get to work immediately,” Simmons said in a statement Monday. “His experience, along with his commitment to electing Republicans, will be critical.”

Judge has been the state GOP’s political director since 2021. In 2020, he served as the deputy state director of Trump Victory, a fundraising group ultimately supporting former President Donald Trump. Judge was also campaign manager and political director for U.S. Rep. Dan Bishop in the 2019 special election for the 9th Congressional District.

“We will run a first-class campaign supporting our Republican candidates up and down the ballot to win this November,” Judge said in a statement.