Organized labor is backing "labor-friendly" Wake County school board member Kevin Hill in the District 3 runoff election against Heather Losurdo.

The Triangle Labor Council AFL-CIO announced Friday that it was endorsing Hill, just like it had in the general election. Three of the group's five Democratic endorsed candidates won outright on Oct. 11 with Hill and George Morgan, whom the group supported over Christine Kushner, being the lone exceptions.

"Our endorsed candidates did very well in Wake County, but control of the Wake County School Board is still up for grabs," says this handout from the Triangle Labor Council AFL-CIO. "However, one of our candidates, Kevin Hill, in Wake County Schools District 3, fell 51 votes short of getting the 50% needed to avoid a run-off. Kevin Hill will be on the ballot in a special run-off election on Tuesday, Nov. 8. This labor-friendly candidate needs your support!"

Of all the Wake County school board races, the District 6 contest has arguably been the most civil among the main candidates.

As noted in today's article by Thomas Goldsmith, Christine Kushner and Donna Williams disagree on several issues. But they've so far avoided going negative on each even as they make their cases.

The tone has been far rougher in the other races, especially during this final week of the campaign.

Christine Kushner has become only the second person to have raised more than $50,000 in a Wake County school board race.

Kushner's latest finance report filed Friday shows she had raised $50,406.93 as of Sept. 26. She has $31,383.11 on hand in the District 6 race.

School board candidates are required to file a "pre-election" report, postmarked no later than this upcoming Monday, showing their finances as of Sept. 26. Aside from reporting any new contributions of greater than $1,000 between Sept. 26 and Election Day, they don't have to file any additional reports until the end of the year or unless they're in a run-off.

The Triangle Labor Council AFL-CIO announced Friday its endorsements for Wake County school board with at least one potentially unexpected name.

The labor organization endorsed Kevin Hill in District 3, Keith Sutton in District 4, Jim Martin in District 5 and Susan Evans in District 8. The group endorsed George Morgan (despite putting the wrong last name on the site) in District 6. Christine Kushner hss been getting most of the District 6 endorsemetns from liberal groups.

All five endorsed candidates are Democrats. But the AFL-CIO does cross party lines. For instance, the group endorsed Debra Goldman in 2009.

It will be a two-sided debate at tonight's Wake County District 6 school board candidate forum.

Donna Williams said she's juggled her schedule so that she can attend the forum sponsored by WakeUP Wake County and the League of Women Voters of Wake County. Previously, only Christine Kushner and Mary Ann Weathers, both critics of the school board majority, were slated to attend.

The forum, which is open to the public, starts at 7 p.m. at Hudson Memorial Presbyterian Church, 4921 Six Forks Road in Raleigh.

UPDATE

George Morgan has now also confirmed he will attend.

The District 6 race for the Wake County school board is looking like it could be the most expensive of all the races this fall.

The new campaign report filed today by Christine Kushner shows she has raised $41,565.83 as of Aug. 30 with $33,256.54. The new report filed today by Donna Williams shows she has raised $27,806.83 as of Aug. 30 with $22,634.43 on hand.

The biggest donor in Kushners' new report is the Democratic Women of Wake County, which gave $1,100. She also received small donations from former school board members John Gilbert, Lori Millberg, Tom Oxholm and Susan Parry.

The campaigns for the Wake County school board races should heat up this week.

As noted in today's article, you've got two fairly significant events over the next five days. You'll have the release of updated campaign finance reports and the first of the five candidate forums sponsored by WakeUP Wake County and the League of Women Voters of Wake County.

All school board candidates who intend to raise more than $1,000 and any groups expecting to spend money on the school board races must file a 35-day pre-election report. This report, which must be postmarked no later than Tuesday, will show how much has been raised through Aug. 30.

UPDATE

Inserted the words pre-election to make the wording more clear.

Wake County school board candidates Susan Evans and Christine Kushner have both released statements today trumpeting the endorsements they've received from Wake NCAE.

In Evans' press release, she says she's "proud to have earned the endorsement of the Wake NCAE, a group that truly has the best interests of students and teachers at heart." The group represents nearly 5,000 Wake school employees.

In Evans' press release, Wake NCAE Vice President Larry Nilles also takes a shot at the school board majority to explain the endorsement.

Wake NCAE, which represents 5,000 Wake County's school employees, is citing school funding in announcing its reasons for its school board candidate endorsements.

In a press release today, Wake NCAE announced it was endorsing Kevin Hill in District 3, Keith Sutton in District 4, Jim Martin in District 5, Christine Kushner in District 6 and Susan Evans in District 8.

In the release, Wake NCAE faulted the current school board majority for not having backed a motion to ask county commissioners for enough funding "that could have prevented" cuts this year such as laying off custodians and cutting pay for teacher assistants.

Both political parties have now officially weighed in with their endorsements for this fall's Wake County school board and municipal elections.

As expected, the Wake County Democratic Party announced Tuesday that it was endorsing Kevin Hill in District 3, Keith Sutton in District 4, Jim Martin in District 5, Christine Kushner in District 6 and Susan Evans in District 8.

In the announcement, the Democrats accused the Republican school board majority of having "made a number of empty promises to voters (in 2009) that they have not met."