Two veteran political incumbents are in danger of losing their seats on the Fresno Unified School Board following the latest update Friday from the Fresno County Elections Office.
Sunnyside challenger Riley Talford, who emerged from behind earlier this week to overtake longtime incumbent Valarie Davis, expanded his lead Friday and now carries a 187-vote lead, 50.81% to 48.73%.
Reached for comment Friday, Talford said he was pleased with the lead and the momentum so far.
“We have to wait and see; I still expect to win this race at the end of the day,” he said, “and I’m ready to get to work on behalf of the staff, families and students in the district.”
Davis has not returned calls seeking comment.
Meanwhile, retired teacher and challenger Karen Steed maintained her lead in the three-way McLane area race, but it shrank again as incumbent Veva Islas continued to close the gap, though she remained 186 votes behind.
Steed, who has already declared victory in the race, leads with 36.08%of the vote to Islas’ 33.78%. Mirna Garcia remains distant third with 29.79%.
Neither Steed nor Islas could be reached for comment Friday. Islas has not conceded publicly.
Over at Fresno City Hall, Assemblymember Joaquin Arambula expanded his lead over FUSD Trustee Keshia Thomas and held a 756-vote margin after the dust settled Friday. He now leads 53.71% to 46.29%.
Neither candidate was immediately available for comment Friday.
The other Fresno City Council races on the midterm ballot are all over except for the counting. Earlier this week, Naindeep Singh declared victory over Rob Fuentes, who conceded, in the D1 council race. Singh expanded his insurmountable lead again Friday, 54.37% to 45.63%.
On the legislative front, Fresno County’s transportation tax, Measure S, only kind of made up ground Friday and remains thousands of votes off pace, with 51.65% of county voters rejecting the tax.
A spokesperson for Measure S was not immediately available for comment Friday.
Fresno County hotel tax, Measure A, is probably dead in the water at this point, with 55.72% of voters opposing the tax on tourists.
Fresno City voters, on the other hand, remain solidly behind Mayor Jerry Dyer’s Measure D, a general tax that he billed as a backstop for the city in case Measure S failed. A total of 57.81% of the more than 118,600 votes cast support the measure.
Fresno County Clerk James Kus said Friday that his office still has more than 10,000 ballots to count. Another update is expected Monday.
