In a contest marked by controversy, Los Angeles Unified School Board candidate Sherlett Hendy Newbill held a slight lead over Khallid Al-Alim in the race for District 1, according to the first post-election day update released at 4:37 p.m. on Wednesday, March 6.
Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk Dean Logan announced the semi-final results for Tuesday’s Presidential Primary Election on Wednesday. A total of 1,016,574 ballots were counted, with 18% of registered voters casting ballots. Many outstanding ballots remained to be counted, Logan said. The first post-election day update is scheduled for later today, March 6.
Two LAUSD board candidates seeking different seats on the LAUSD board were embroiled in controversy. Al-Alim was accused of agreeing with antisemitic posts on social media and lost his backing from United Teachers Los Angeles, and another candidate was temporarily removed from her LAUSD administration job due to a lawsuit against her.
Joel Fox, adjunct professor at the Pepperdine School of Public Policy, said there’s still a battle ahead for the District 1 seat. “Where are those votes going to go?” he asked. “If they go to the person who finished second, that person has a chance of beating (Al-Alim).”
It’s unclear, Fox added, what the next move would be for the union representing LAUSD teachers, which pulled its endorsement of Al-Alim this week. “Since they rescinded their endorsement, will they just sit on their hands? Or will they endorse his opponent?” he asked.
Candidates are vying to represent the board’s odd-numbered districts 1, 3, 5 and 7, with two incumbents running for their seats and two empty seats. The powerful seven-member Board of Education oversees policy for the Los Angeles Unified School District — the second-largest district in the nation.
Candidates who get more than 50% of the vote will avoid a runoff. Otherwise, the top two finishers in each of the four districts will advance to the November general election. For some races, the primary results may not be known for days or weeks, while votes are being counted.
The United Teachers Los Angeles (UTLA) made a dramatic move on Monday, March 4, withdrawing its powerful endorsement of Al-Alim. He had been criticized for his activity on X, formerly Twitter, which was decried as antisemitic, and for following accounts that were sexually explicit.
And in the LAUSD District 5 race, candidate Graciela Ortiz was accused of employing a campaign worker who assaulted a minor. Ortiz has lost the backing of a key school employee labor union.
Here are the latest numbers in the four districts on the ballot:
LAUSD District 1
In South L.A., seven candidates are running for a seat that will be left empty by the departure of George McKenna.
Candidate Sherlett Hendy Newbill, a former teacher, coach and mentor who is now a policy advisor to McKenna — who endorsed her — was leading with 11,098 votes, or 23.3%. Al-Alim was close behind with 10,280 votes, or 21.6%.
Candidate DeWayne Davis, a former teacher and principal in L.A., now an educational strategist, was in third place with 17.60%.
The remaining four candidates trailed behind with 17% or less of the vote, and they included Didi Watts, an educator with 16.01%; Rina Tambor, a tutor, with 9.07%; Christian Flagg, director of training at Community Coalition, founded by L.A. Mayor Karen Bass with 7.87%; and John Aaron Brasfield, an educator and coach, with 4.55%.
Al-Alim, a community organizer and janitor born in the district, found himself in a controversy over his online comments and apologized on his campaign website.
UTLA board’s, in a late-hour decision on March 4, voted to drop its support for Al-Alim. That vote could impact the outcome of this contest. In addition to UTLA’s action, the L.A. County Federation of Labor had suspended its campaign activities in support of Al-Alim.
LAUSD District 3
LAUSD board member Scott Schmerelson is running for reelection against four candidates in the West San Fernando Valley and has represented that district since 2015. He was dominating the race with 42.04% of the vote, compared to second-place candidate Dan Chang, a nonprofit leader and a math teacher at LAUSD’s James Madison Middle School who got 29.54%.
Fox said that Schmerelson “has a comfortable lead. He will be hard to beat in any kind of runoff.”
The lagging candidates included Raquel Villalta, an educator, with 12.92%; Elizabeth Badger, a parent, with 8.63%; and Andreas Farmakalidis, a veteran and owner of a music school with 6.87%.
LAUSD District 5
District 5 gets a new representative this year with four candidates running to replace retiring board President Jackie Goldberg. District 5 includes Koreatown and Pico-Union and takes in much of Southeast L.A. County, from South Gate to Vernon.
In early returns, Karla Griego, a special education teacher for 20 years from Eagle Rock, was in front with 32.51% of the votes, followed by Graciela Ortiz with 32.19% votes. Just 122 votes separated the two candidates.
Ortiz is a former Huntington Park City Council member and mayor. In February, Local 500 of the California School Employees Association rescinded its endorsement of Ortiz after a lawsuit alleged she was liable for the sexual assault of a minor by one of her campaign workers. Ortiz’s campaign says the lawsuit was politically motivated.
Educator Fidencio Gallardo, a deputy to Goldberg and the mayor of Bell, followed with 23.5% of the votes, and Victorio Gutierrez of South Gate, a retired teacher and principal, had 11.7% of the votes.
LAUSD District 7
Incumbent Tanya Ortiz Franklin is being challenged by Lydia Gutierrez in a district that covers the South Bay and Harbor Area regions. Franklin has emphasized her experience and significant board resolutions and was well ahead of her challenger, with 54.79% in early results.
Gutierrez, a teacher for more than 25 years, and active in the California Teachers Association, had 45.21%.