Chair of the Orange County Board of Commissioners Mark Dorosin has announced that he will be running for a seat on the North Carolina Court of Appeals in 2018.

Dorosin made the announcement in a post on Facebook Monday night.

Dorosin said he will be a candidate for the seat being vacated by Judge Ann Marie Calabria, who announced that she will not be seeking re-election while attending the North Carolina Bar Association convention in Asheville last weekend, according to the Associated Press. Calabria was first elected to the court in 2002 and re-elected in 2010. She would not have been able to serve another full term because judges must retire at age 72, according to state law.

The AP reports Wake County District Court Judge Jefferson Griffin has also announced his candidacy for the seat on Monday.

Dorosin has served on the Orange County Board of Commissioners since 2012 and currently serves as chair after being re-elected to the board in 2016.

Dorosin said his desire to serve on the court of appeals judge “stems from my belief that the courts too often are out of touch with the people of this state.”

Professionally, Dorosin has been the managing attorney for the UNC Center for Civil Rights for the last eight years. Dorosin said that experience will help him serve on the court, if elected.

“We need judges who have experience representing those whose needs have been underserved by our justice system, and who as a result have lost faith in that system,” Dorosin added in his social media post.

Dorosin wrote that hearing the clients he serves as a civil rights attorney say “how valuable it would be to have elected representatives who truly understand their experiences and perspectives” inspired him to run for office in the first place.

“As a commissioner, I have been successful in helping formerly excluded voices be heard.”

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