Christine Kushner

Democratic Party

Wake County Board of Commissioners At-Large · Wake County, North Carolina · November 3, 2026

Also on the ballot: Kyle Stogoski (Republican Party), Mona Singh (Democratic Party), Gary Dale Hartong (Republican Party)

Christine Kushner is a former 11-year Wake County school board member (2011-2022, including two years as chair) running as a Democrat for one of the county's two new at-large commissioner seats. She emphasizes public-education funding and opposes the state's private-school voucher program, and topped the seven-way Democratic primary with 30% of the vote.

What this office decides

The Wake County Board of Commissioners adopts the county budget and property tax rate and decides how much local money goes to the public schools, Wake Tech, the sheriff and jail, social services, public health, libraries, and parks. It also decides which bond referendums go before voters, including the school and community college bonds on this ballot. These two at-large seats are new, as the board grows from seven to nine members; voters across the county elect them in partisan races, and the top vote-getter serves four years and the runner-up two.

How this race lines up with you

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Dossier

Researched 2026-09-23 · Claude Code research agent with web search

Donald Trump: nothing found. No endorsement or criticism by Donald Trump found in the sources reviewed. A dedicated search query for this candidate was not completed because this session's web-search budget was exhausted before it could be run.

News & Observer editorial board (for) source
Sierra Club (for) source
Wake County AFL-CIO (for) source
Wake County Commissioner Susan Evans (for) source
Wake County Commissioner Tara Waters (for) source
Wake County Commissioner Vickie Adamson (for) source
Former Raleigh Mayor Nancy McFarlane (for) source

Who they are

Christine Kushner, 62, is a self-employed policy analyst and writer with no current elected office; she represented District 6 (Raleigh) on the Wake County school board for 11 years (2011-Dec. 2022), two as chair, and now sits on the county Health and Human Services Board and the Southern Regional Education Board, a 2023 Gov. Cooper appointment (IndyWeek). Both at-large seats are new for 2026, created as the board grew from seven to nine members; the top vote-getter serves four years, the runner-up two (UNC-SOG). She led the seven-way March 3, 2026 Democratic primary with 30% (IndyWeek).

Positions

Schools & bonds: Opposes the state's Opportunity Scholarship voucher program as "a scam for taxpayers," wants that funding redirected to public schools (WCPSS ranks 110th of 115 NC districts in per-pupil funding), and says residents "should be proud" of decades of support for school bonds — but takes no specific position on the current $680M/$149.1M bonds by name (IndyWeek).
Taxes & spending: Opposes "blanket tax cuts," favors new means-tested property-tax relief for lower-income and fixed-income residents (IndyWeek).
Property tax rate: No specific numeric position found.

Record

Wake County school board, District 6, 2011-2022, two as chair (IndyWeek). Specific board votes or resolutions weren't identified in sources reviewed.

Money

Raised just under $113,000 through the primary, third-highest of seven Democratic candidates (IndyWeek).

What we couldn't find

Specific position on either bond by name, or the exact property tax rate.
Campaign finance figures newer than the primary period.
A dedicated Trump search wasn't completed before this session's search limit was reached.

Sources (5)