The executive committee of the Wake County Democratic Party has named Wake school board chairwoman Rosa Gill to fill the state House seat being vacated by Dan Blue.

Gill narrowly defeated Bernard Allen Jr. this evening, picking up 21 votes, one more than needed for the District 33 seat. Gov. Bev Perdue still needs to appoint Gill but under state law she has to take the Democratic Party's choice because Blue is from that party.

The school board will now have to pick a replacement for Gill's District 4 seat, which covers Southeast Raleigh. The other eight members will appoint a replacement to finish out Gill's term, which expires November 2011.

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Candidates for Sen. Vern Malone's seat will speak at a forum May 2.

The Raleigh-Wake Citizens Association, a local civil rights organization, is sponsoring the forum with the Wake County Democratic Caucus.

Among the people who have been mentioned as replacements: State Rep. Dan Blue, a former House speaker; Bernard Allen Jr., the son of a former representative; and former DMV commissioner Alexander Killens, according to local activist Bruce Lightner.

The forum will be held at 10 a.m. at the Seby Jones Fine Arts Building at St. Augustine's College in Raleigh.

The Raleigh-Wake Citizens Association will make a recommendation to the Wake County Democratic Party after the meeting.

"In the past such recommendations have been given great weight as to the will of the people," Lightner wrote in an e-mail to Dome.