What’s at stake?
Only one of two challengers the Fresno Teachers Association placed big bets on in Fresno Unified trustee races this election was leading as of an updated vote tally Nov. 12.
In a neck-and-neck race for the Fresno Unified school board, challenger Dan Bordona maintained a lead just shy of 200 votes over Hoover High School-area incumbent Claudia Cázares.
The gap between the two candidates shrunk by just 13 votes with the latest tally from the Fresno County Clerk’s Office Tuesday.
Bordona, one of two teachers union-backed challengers vying to unseat school board incumbents, maintained just under 51% of the vote to Cázares’ roughly 49%.
“I’m still maintaining around that 200-vote lead, so I’m happy with that,” he told Fresnoland in an interview Tuesday evening.
But he still wasn’t ready to declare victory with close to 50,000 more ballots remaining to be counted. The next tally is expected by end-of-day Friday.
“I hope they get the last 49,000 counted by this Friday, for both my sake and Claudia’s – so we know what’s going on,” he said, “and we can move forward with our lives.”
Cázares didn’t immediately respond to Fresnoland’s request for comment Tuesday.
The two other Fresno Unified trustee races on the ballot have appeared all but decided since election night.
In the Fresno High area race, incumbent Andy Levine’s lead over his two challengers grew slightly as of Tuesday to just over 1,700 votes, or about 44% of the vote.
James Martinez, the union-backed challenger, held about 29% of the vote, just ahead of Emma Villa’s 26%.
Roosevelt High incumbent Elizabeth Jonasson Rosas, who declared victory over her 19-year-old challenger Joseph Aquino on election night, maintained a decisive share of votes at about 68% with Tuesday’s tally.
School bonds for Fresno County’s three largest school districts – Fresno Unified, Clovis Unified and Central Unified – were also all passing as of Tuesday’s updated tally, though some more comfortably than others.
About 63% voted to approve Fresno Unified’s $500 million bond, Measure H, as of Tuesday’s tally.
Central Unified’s $109 million Measure X was passing by a similar margin as of the latest tally, with about 63% of voters approving the bond.
Clovis Unified’s bond measure has been another story.
Late last week, the $400 million bond had roughly 55.47% voting yes.
That margin grew slightly Tuesday, putting approval at 56.8%.
The bonds require 55% approval to pass.
