SEANC gave $194,800 in North Carolina races this year.

The State Employees Association of North Carolina gave $89,300 to 53 state House candidates, $79,000 to 28 Senate candidates an $16,000 to four statewide candidates. Seventy-six recipients were Democrats, and nine were Republicans.

The largest donations went to House challenger Jimmy Garner and Sen. Floyd McKissick, who each received $8,000; and House challenger Betty Mangum and Sens. Fletcher Hartsell, Steve Goss, Ellie Kinnaird, who received $5,000 apiece.

Gov.-elect Beverly Perdue, Lt. Gov.-elect Walter Dalton, agriculture commissioner candidate Ronnie Ansley and labor commissioner candidate Mary Fant Donnan, all Democrats, each received $4,000.

Fifty-five of the candidates were incumbents, 19 were challenging an incumbent and 11 were running for open seats. 

The state workers group also gave $4,000 to the state House Republican committee, $1,000 to the Senate Democratic committee and $500 to the House Democratic committee.

In addition, SEANC gave $5,000 to the Alliance for North Carolina. 

A TV ad for Democratic agriculture commissioner candidate Ronnie Ansley says North Carolinians would be "naked and hungry" without agriculture.

The VIPs in the crowd in Greensboro were more local.

At a rally for Barack Obama today, the highest-ranking candidate for state office was Agriculture Commissioner candidate Ronnie Ansley.

Obama gave him a shout-out and recognized Congressional candidates Roy Carter and Teresa Sue Bratton, Greensboro Mayor Yevonne Johnson and state Rep. Pricey Harrison.

Also at the event: State Rep. Alma Adams and state Cultural Resources secretary Libba Evans.

Not present: Democratic gubernatorial candidate Beverly Perdue or Senate candidate Kay Hagan, who is from Greensboro.

Update: The inestimable Mark Binker of the News & Record says he spotted Rep. Earl Jones as well.

Second Update: A spokeswoman for Hagan said she had a previously scheduled event. 

The State Employees Association of North Carolina has made its endorsements.

The group's Employees Political Action Committee, also known as EMPAC, made 16 endorsements in statewide races after meeting Saturday.

"We're thrilled to support candidates who support the state's working families and the retirees who dedicated their careers to serving North Carolina's citizens," said SEANC President Linda Rouse Sutton.

Although most are Democrats, there is one Republican: State Auditor Les Merritt.

They also endorsed several other incumbents: Attorney General Roy Cooper, Secretary of State Elaine Marshall, Superintendent of Public Instruction June Atkinson and Appeals Court Judges John Arrowood, Doug McCullough, Linda Stephens and Jim Wynn.

The others: Beverly Perdue for governor, Walter Dalton for lieutenant governor, Wayne Goodwin for insurance commissioner, Ronnie Ansley for agriculture commissioner, Mary Fant Donnan for labor commissioner, Suzanne Reynolds for Supreme Court and Kristin Ruth for Appeals Court.

SEANC, which is affiliated with the Service Employees International Union, has 55,000 members.

Republican state Agriculture Commissioner Steve Troxler and Ronnie Ansley, the Democratic nominee for the office, both support a bill that would make it easier for hog farmers to rebuild or reconfigure their hog operations.

The bill strips away a neighbors right to halt changes to structures that are closer than the current law would allow. The current version of the bill, which cleared the Senate on Thursday, even allows hog farmers to build a new building closer than the setbacks under certain circumstances.

Hog farms would need the approval of the state Department of Environment and Natural Resources. But the big difference is that adjacent property owners would lose their right to stop the changes.

Opponents say the bill weakens 1995 reforms adopted to protect neighbors from the smelly and dangerous pollutants that arise from hog farms. Supporters say it's a minor change that would allow hog farms to keep up with the rising costs of hog farming.

"On balance, we think it's a good piece of legislation," said Brian Long, a spokesman for Troxler. "We don't have a problem with it."

Ansley, said he generally supports the bill because it would help farmers keep production costs low, which would benefit consumers at the grocery store.

But Ansley says he is concerned that lawmakers are pushing the bill too quickly. Opponents have had little public opportunity to speak against the bill.

"One of the big concerns I have is the rush that was put on it," Ansley said.

The bill, H 822, has cleared the Senate and now heads to the House.

The labor commissioner race had the lowest turnout on May 6.

Among the nine statewide races in the Democratic primary, the race between John C. Brooks and Mary Fant Donnan drew the lowest number of voters.

At 1.2 million votes, it was about 76 percent of the turnout of the presidential race. 

In order of turnout, the presidential race was followed by governor, U.S. senator, lieutenant governor, treasurer, superintendent of public instruction, auditor, insurance commissioner and labor commissioner.

Attorney General Roy Cooper, Secretary of State Elaine Marshall and Agriculture Commissioner candidate Ronnie Ansley did not have primary opposition. 

The races for open seats for lieutenant governor and state treasurer could be close contests, according to the latest results from Public Policy Polling.

But while most incumbents for Council of State offices enjoy "solid leads" in the latest survey, State Auditor Les Merritt, a Republican, trails Democratic challenger Beth Wood.

PPP surveyed 616 likely voters on May 8-9. The survey had a margin of error of plus or minus four percentage points.

The full results in the various Council of State races after the jump:

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North Carolina's campaign season opened at noon with the national debate over the war in Iraq echoing in Tar Heel congressional races.

Two Republican congressional candidates, Joe McLaughlin of Jacksonville and Will Breazeale of Elizabethtown, filed for election against incumbents who they say should be turned out of office for not being sufficiently supportive of the U.S. military effort in Iraq, Rob Christensen reports.

Dozens of candidates lined up in the State Board of Elections for the filling period that opened at noon. They included Democratic Congressman Bob Etheridge, Republican Labor Commissioner Cherie Berry, and Beth Wood, a former CPA in the state auditor's office, who wants to run against her hold boss Les Merritt.

Ronnie Anlsey, a Raleigh attorney, filed as a Democratic candidate for agriculture commissioner.

More after the jump.

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Raleigh attorney Ronnie Ansley said he hopes to challenge Republican Agriculture Commissioner Steve Troxler next year.

Ansley, 45, said he comes from an agriculture background in Northampton County and recently was elected president of the Future Farmers of America Alumni organization. He has bachelor's and master's degrees in agriculture education from N.C. State University and Clemson University, respectively, Rob Christensen reports.

Ansley's name might be familiar. He lost to Beverly Perdue in the 2000 lieutenant governor's race, to Brad Miller in a 2002 U.S. House race, and lost again in 2004's N.C. Supreme Court scrum.

Troxler was elected in a close race in 2004, edging out Democrat Britt Cobb after a several-month long dispute over the vote count. Cobb, who is now secretary of administration, had been appointed agriculture commissioner by Gov. Mike Easley after Meg Scott Phipps resigned as a result of a fundraising scandal.