We have just had elections, and we had a teacher to run against her own room mother for an executive officer position. To top things off, no one knew in advance. The only people that knew were the nominating committee, which were all school staff members. I would appreciate some feedback on this. It has upset the mother, and the current board. We really don't know what to do.

If she was voted in and it was done in accordance with your bylaws there isn't really much you can do, imo.

Tell the parent you appreciate her feelings but the PTO has moved in the direction they have in accordance with the bylaws. Give her some options on significant ways she can support the group and allow things to move forward without any more fanfare or chit chat. The more of that the more the spatter left by the injury. Really--2 good folks, 1 won....it's done.
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So no one would have a problem with their child's teacher running against them even though the teacher had never been involved with PTO. Plus the teacher hasn't talked to the parent about the situation before or after the election.

Oh trust me... personally I would have a HUGE problem with it. But my personal problem with the situation and the realities of what is possible based on the by-laws, etc. are two different things.

My initial question when first reading the post was "why is the nominating committee made up of school staff?" Past trying to change that, which may be a bylaws item as well though, if rules have been followed there isn't much that can be done. The mom has to suck it up, be a good sport, support the school as she feels is appropriate and move towards the future. Her kids are at the school so her causing issue over it won't be productive for anyone. And if this came about due to something underhanded that the bylaws allow through default then work on changing the bylaws. Making an issue of it though will do nothing but stand the potential of hurting the kids and causing uproar with them. Which doesn't show much better imo.

Also, the assumption appears as though it is being made that the teacher did something purposely underhanded by running against her own room mom. That may not be the case at all. The teacher may have had a conversation with the mom that she based her decision on for the better of the students, etc. There are always 2 sides to the story and only one side seems to be voiced at this time. If it was done for under handed reasons then the teacher will probably pay for it in the end... I'm sure finding future room moms won't be easy. But, if it was done for a good, valid reason, then this may be the best thing in the end. One of the largest hangups doesn't seem to be that she ran at the last minute but that she ran against her own room mom. That could have happened no matter when she tossed in her nomination... would the reaction have been as negative then?

Exactly--the process is what is key here and is there exactly to ensure that feelings don't come into play. I'd be surprised if that scenario came to pass in our school but if it did, I'd work hard to get over it.