All Incumbent Wake County School Board Members Appear to Hold on to Their Seats

All five incumbents on the Wake County Board of Education will hold onto their seats.

Wing Ng appears poised to serve a second term in the District Three seat following a tight race against newcomer Jordyne Blaise.

Ng is a 56-year-old physician and registered Republican—one of two on the majority-Democratic school board. He has represented District Three, which stretches from northern Raleigh up through Wake Forest to the top of Wake County, since 2022. In that time, he’s advocated for special education reform, promoted the “parents’ rights” movement, expressed support for an expensive private school voucher program, criticized federal Title IX protections for LGBTQ students in public schools, and tried to block a diverse books grant. He campaigned for re-election alongside far-right candidates for governor and state superintendent of public instruction Mark Robinson and Michele Morrow. 

Blaise, a leadership consultant and former teacher, ran on a platform of improving educational equity and raising staff pay. She lost to Ng by a razor-thin margin of just about one point.

Toshiba Rice will keep her District Four seat on the school board. She defeated challengers Sean Callan and Michael T. Williams.

Rice, 50, was appointed to the school board in February after her predecessor, Tara Waters, left to join the Wake County Board of Commissioners. Rice is CEO of a wellness consulting firm in Raleigh and executive director of Track My Steps, a statewide education nonprofit dedicated to closing economic and racial achievement gaps. During her first months on the school board, she voted alongside her fellow Democrats to bring the school system into compliance with federal Title IX updates, which expand protections for LGBTQ students. She also voted against renewing the school system’s contract with its school resource officers, citing their unequal treatment of Black and brown students. Rice was endorsed by the Wake County Democratic Party and the North Carolina Association of Educators. 

The District Four race began as a four-way contest between Rice, Callan, Williams, and Roberto Morales Vergara, a fiscal analyst for the City of Raleigh who had the endorsement of the Wake County Republican Party. In August, Morales Vergara dropped out of the race, citing his “deep disappointment with the leadership of the Wake GOP,” and endorsed Rice. His name still appeared on the ballot. 

Lynn Edmonds will continue to represent District Five, having soundly defeated her challenger, Ted Hills. 

Edmonds, 53, is a Wake County Public Schools parent and former PTA president who was first elected to the school board in 2022. She serves as outreach director for Public Schools First NC, a statewide nonprofit dedicated to public education advocacy, and is an at-large member of the Wake Library Commission. 

In her first term on the school board, Edmonds championed the Leandro Plan to fully fund public schools at the state level and voted, alongside the board’s six other Democrats, to bring the school system into compliance with new, federally-mandated protections for LGBTQ students. 

Edmonds’s re-election campaign focused on fixing WCPSS staffing shortages by raising teacher pay, eliminating racial and socioeconomic gaps in student achievement through equity and inclusion initiatives, and improving school safety.
Edmonds won handily against Hills, her Republican-endorsed opponent. Hills is an IT professional who—according to previous reporting by the News and Observer—decided to run after receiving an email from far-right candidate for state superintendent of public instruction Michele Morrow saying there was no conservative candidate challenging Edmonds. During his campaign, Hills expressed support for HB 10, the state bill that would allocate $500 million for private school vouchers, which Edmonds strongly opposes. He also said he favored installing weapons detectors at every public school and opposed federal Title IX protections for LGBTQ students.

Sam Hershey will serve a second term on the Wake County Board of Education, where he represents District Six, which covers northern Raleigh.

Hershey, 47, is a Wake County Public Schools parent and former volunteer. In his first two years on the school board, he voiced strong opposition to proposed book bans and school voucher programs that would divert public funds away from public schools to private schools. He also spoke up about the importance of complying with the Biden administration’s Title IX updates, which created added protections for LGBTQ students. Hershey ran for re-election on a platform of strengthening academic performance, improving school system facilities and eliminating staffing shortages.

Although school board elections are officially nonpartisan, the District 6 race (along with most of the other contests this year) featured a Democrat and a Republican running on partisan platforms. Hershey is a registered Democrat and was endorsed this cycle by the Wake Democrats, the North Carolina Association of Educators, and many prominent local Democrats. His challenger, Josh Points, is a Republican backed by the Wake County GOP and the Carolina Teachers’ Alliance, which markets itself as a conservative alternative to the NCAE. Hershey defeated Points, a first-time candidate, by a 40-point margin.

Lindsay Mahaffey will serve a fifth term on the Wake County Board of Education representing District Eight, which covers parts of Apex, Holly Springs, and Fuquay-Varina. 

Mahaffey, 42, is a former teacher and parent of three children in Wake County public schools. In her eight years on the school board, she has successfully advocated for system-wide staff pay raises, the restoration of Master’s pay, and the addition of eight new schools in District 8. She had the support of the North Carolina Association of Educators and the Wake County Democratic Party in this election.

Mahaffey defeated Elizabeth McDuffie, a first-time candidate backed by the Wake County Republican Party and the Carolina Teachers’ Alliance, which bills itself as the conservative alternative to the NCAE. 

Mahaffey received 59 percent of the vote to McDuffie’s 41 percent.

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