The Hon. Donald T. Rice is a judge for the Gaston County District Court in North Carolina. He was elected to the bench on November 3, 2020.
Prior to his election, Rice was an assistant district attorney for the Gaston County District Attorney’s Office, a position to which he was named in 2006.
Rice earned a bachelor’s degree in sociology and criminology from Florida State University. He then completed a J.D. at the University of Baltimore School of Law in 2005.
His memberships have included the Cramerton Board of Commissioners, the Gaston County Bar Association, the Rotary Club of Gastonia, and the Gaston County Republican Party. He has also been involved with the Cramerton Fire Department as a volunteer firefighter, and he has served on the Board of the Gaston County Mediation Center.
He is a recipient of the Prosecutor of the Year Award from Mothers Against Drunk Driving (2015) and the Judicial Partner of the Year Award from the Governor’s Highway Safety Program (2018).
Rice was born in Metairie, Louisiana, but spent much of his childhood in Tidewater, Virginia. A resident of Cramerton, North Carolina, Rice and his wife, Ashley, have two sons. The family attends Queen of the Apostles Catholic Church in Belmont.
He is registered as a Republican.