The top judge on the North Carolina Court of Appeals lost her leadership position as the chief justice of the state Supreme Court replaced her with a colleague. Judge Donna Stroud, a Republican who has served as chief judge of the court since 2021, will be succeeded by Judge Chris Dillon. Stroud will continue to serve on the court, to which members are elected by voters statewide to eight-year terms. Stroud, who was first elected in 2006, is the most senior member of the court, the metric which has traditionally been used to determine the chief judge. Dillon, also a Republican, was elected in …