Gene Walker appears to have fended off a close challenge to his PPS board seat from a labor union worker critical of the district’s plans to close and consolidate a slate of schools.

Walker, board president for Pittsburgh Public Schools, ended primary night a single vote behind his Democratic challenger Allie Petonic with ballots counted from all but one of District 9’s 39 precincts. By Friday afternoon those remaining ballots were tallied and published to Allegheny County’s website, showing the incumbent pulling ahead by a 15-vote margin, out of more than 5,000 cast.

Walker has been a vocal supporter of the administration’s plan to reconfigure the school district, which has drawn criticism from families who oppose the planned closures and the district’s engagement approach.

Petonic, a researcher for the United Steelworkers, was the only one of the nine Democratic candidates who voiced reservations about the closures plan and argued on the campaign trail that the community engagement process created barriers for public participation.

Neither candidate could be reached for comment at the time of publishing.

Allegheny County does not have an automatic recount mechanism for close races. If there is suspicion of an error in vote counting, any three voters can petition for a recount.

Jamie Wiggan is deputy editor at PublicSource and can be reached at jamie@publicsource.org

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Jamie began his journalism career at a local news startup in McKees Rocks, where he learned the trade covering local school boards and municipalities, and left four years later as editor-in-chief. He comes...