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RALEIGH -- Democratic-backed candidates swept all the other school board races earlier this month, and power on the board could shift if incumbent Kevin Hill can hold off challenger Heather Losurdo.

Democratic-backed Hill garnered nearly 50 percent of the vote in round one, 10 points higher than Republican-backed Losurdo, but not quite enough to win outright. Absentee and provisional ballots were counted last week and showed that Hill fell just 51 votes shy of the clear majority needed to avoid a runoff.

Over the weekend, both candidates had supporters canvassing the district, a practice likely to continue over the next two weeks.

"Since the school board in the county was unified in the mid 1970s, there just hasn't been anything even remotely like this,” said NC State political science professor Andrew Taylor.

Taylor says this cycle's school board races are more polarizing, more political and more expensive than ever. The candidates and outside groups have raised hundreds of thousands of dollars.

"This is the kind of money that school board races in this area have never, ever seen before."

Taylor says the cash will keep flowing through the runoff and that the sense of urgency may be greater for the GOP.

"If Kevin Hill wins and Democrats take control of the school board, it will be at least four years before Republicans can get back in control because the four seats that are up in 2013 are all Republican seats,” Taylor said.

Tom Jensen, with Public Policy Polling, said head-to-head polling in early October showed Hill as the clear favorite but that Losurdo is not out of it.

"The big uncertainty is who's going to come out and vote. It's just really hard to say that in a runoff,” Jensen said. "So, if her supporters supporters turn out to be more engaged than Hill's are, she totally could win."

Early voting is already under way in the runoff election.