Don't be surprised if you see pictures of school board candidate Cathy Truitt shaking hands with new board member John Tedesco.

Truitt unexpectedly crashed Tedesco's post-election gathering at the Heather Hills clubhouse. Tedesco was looking at the results outside the polling place when he unexpectedly got a start from Truitt, who tapped him from behind.

School board candidate Cathy Truitt is trying to position herself as being a hero in the minds of opponents of the diversity policy.

As noted in today's article, Truitt said her announcement over the weekend that she'll served if elected was meant to forestall the possibility of the current school board filling the seat if she got the most votes today.

"I'm ensuring they can't appoint a supporter of forced busing," Truitt said.

Wake County school board candidate Cathy Truitt said today she will serve on the board if she wins Tuesday's District 2 runoff election.

“It may be improbable that I'm elected, but if I am, I will take the oath and serve,” she told N&O reporter Cathy Truitt. “I made that commitment to the children.”

Truitt finished a distant second to John Tedesco in the Oct. 6 elections, and quickly requested a runoff. She later conceded the race and tried to take back her request after early voting had begun.

But Truitt never officially withdrew her candidacy, and the state Board of Elections last week decided to go forward with the runoff.

School board candidate John Tedesco has overtaken Cathy Truitt for the fundraising lead in District 2.

In this campaign report received today, Tedesco reported having raised $20,065.96 as of Oct. 19. Through that same time period, Truitt had reported raising $19,425.31.

Tedesco also has a lot more money than Truitt available for spending in the final week. He reported having spent $12,936.07 and having $6,100.40 on hand.

School board candidate Cathy Truitt burned through a good chunk of her campaign money before the runoff.

This campaign report Truitt filed today showed that she had $621.39 left as of Oct. 19. She's spent most of the $19,425.31 she's raised so far.

Would the will of the voters in District 2 be disenfranchised/suppressed if the runoff took place or if was canceled?

As noted in today's article, state NAACP President William Barber said canceling the runoff now would deprive voters of their say. Even though Cathy Truitt doesn't want a runoff, Barber said holding the election on Nov. 3 would give voters the right to say they don't want John Tedesco to represent them.

"We're calling on the county Board of Elections and the state Board of Elections to rule in favor of not disenfranchising voters," Barber said.

In the two weeks that have marked Cathy Truitt's school board runoff election campaign, one challenge that she couldn't overcome was the inability to pick up the backing of people who supported the diversity policy.

Truitt had said she could be the swing vote against resegregation. But the Independent was the only diversity policy supporter to back her in the runoff, with columnist Bob Geary urging moderates and progressives to rally behind her.

But Truitt struck out with other groups. In particular, Wake NCAE chose not to make an endorsement in the runoff. The group had backed Horace Tart originally.

How Cathy Truitt went from saying that John Tedesco would resegregate the school system to now endorsing him is an interesting story.

As noted in today's article, Truitt said she changed her mind after speaking with Tedesco on Tuesday night. But Tedesco says he didn't tell her anything different from what he has said during the campaign.

Let's go back in time to Monday.

UPDATED POST

To say that today's press conference was a 180 from Monday's event would be an understatement.

Cathy Truitt said she's endorsing John Tedesco after meeting with him Tuesday night and coming away assured that he won't resegregate the schools.

Truitt is offering to reimburse the county's expenses for the runoff by offering in-kind services as an education consultant to the community.

For those who think that Cathy Truitt is doing a fake withdrawal from the school board race, the Wake County GOP is announcing that she and John Tedesco will do a joint appearance today.

A press release is expected around 11 a.m. But here's the GOP announcementL