The Wake County Democratic Party outspent the Wake County Republican Party by more than two to one last year to help win the pivotal school board battle.

While it's hard to say how much was specifically spent on the Wake County school board races, the campaign finance reports would suggest that the Democrats were more active in getting their candidates elected. For instance, Democrats had a target of $80,000 in their get-out-the-vote efforts for the October races.

According to their year-end report, the Wake County Democratic Party received $176,227.18 and spent $183,252.88. According to their year-end report, the Wake County Republican Party raised $81,965.98 and spent $83.089.33.

Wake County school board member Christine Kushner raised more than $50,000 in her bid to win the District 6 seat.

In her final 2011 report filed Wednesday, Kushner reported raising $51,343.47 and spending $37,123.21. This leaves the Democrat with $14,220.26 that she can use to donate to other groups or to prepare for a future campaign run.

Her main opponent, Republican Donna Williams, raised $48.335.96.

Wake County school board chairman Kevin Hill raised nearly $70,000 in his successful reelection bid this fall.

A new report filed today shows that Hill, a Democrat, raised $68,598 and spent $54,322 in the District 3 race. Heather Losurdo, a Republican, hasn't filed her final report yet. But she had reported raising $82,357 through Oct. 24.

Before this year, only one candidate had raised more than $50,000 in a Wake school board race. But at least four candidates hit that mark last fall during the high-stakes election.

New Wake County school board member Susan Evans raised more than $40,000 in her successful bid to unseat incumbent Ron Margiotta,

In her final campaign report filed today, Evans reported raising $43,386.53 and spending $39.077.16. Margiotta hasn't filed his final report yet, but he had reported raising $52,748.31 as of Sept. 26.

But the funding gap between Evans, a Democrat, and Margiotta, a Republican, is a lot narrower considering all the outside money that was poured into the District 8 race.

Wake County school board member Keith Sutton raised more than $30,000 during his lopsided election win in District 4 last fall.

In Sutton's final campaign report filed Thursday, the Democratic-backed candidate reported raising $33,327 and spending $32,484.31. His Republican challenger, Venita Peyton, hasn't filed her final report yet. But she had reported raising $1,280 as of Sept. 26.

Sutton's report seems to be missing some info. He reports having raised $5,500 from other political committees on his summary page. But the actual page listing this contribution or contributions isn't included.

Wake County school board candidate Jim Martin has maintained his commanding fundraising lead over Cynthia Matson in the District 5 race.

A new campaign finance report filed this week shows Martin had raised $31,534.46 as of Sept. 26 with $19,787.51 on hand. In contrast, Matson had only raised $8,517.10 as of Sept. 26 with $2,132.38 on hand.

The largest donors for Martin in the new report are the $2,000 from Capitol Broadcasting CEO Jim Goodmon and $500 from Wake Citizens for Good Government.

Wake County school board member Keith Sutton has raised nearly $24,000 in his bid to retain the District 4 seat.

A new campaign report filed this week shows Sutton had raised $23,872 as of Sept. 26 with $15,386.04 on hand. Venita Peyton's new report isn't up yet but she was at under $1,000 raised at the end of August.

The largest donors for Sutton in the new report are the $2,000 from Capitol Broadcasting CEO Jim Goodmon and $500 from Wake Citizens for Good Government.

Wake County school board candidate Heather Losurdo holds the clear fundraising lead for the District 3 seat.

New campaign reports filed this week show that Losurdo had raised $40,244.55 as of Sept. 26 with $9,522.60 on hand. School board member Kevin Hill reported raising $24,055 with $12,570.69 on hand. Jennifer Mansfield is well behind with $5,802.19 raised and $2,513.18 on hand.

Some of the disparity between Losurdo and Hill is mitigated by the spending that outside groups have put into the race attacking her.

Wake County school board candidate Susan Evans has reported raising $37,524.69 as of Sept. 26 with $21,770.23 on hand.

Evans' newest campaign report filed Friday shows she's still trailing school board chairman Ron Margiotta, who had already raised more than $40,000 by the end of August. But the gap might not be that big a deal considering how outside groups like Common Sense Matters and the N.C. Futures Action Fund are sending out mailers aiding her cause.

The biggest donors in Evans' latest report are the $3,000 from Capitol Broadcasting CEO Jim Goodmon and $2,000 from Lettice Rhodes.

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.