As votes continued to be tallied from last week’s California primary, the millions spent by teachers’ unions in the Superintendent of Public Instruction race did not appear to put incumbent Tony Thurmond above 50 percent, and he will likely face a runoff in November.
The nonpartisan race came down to parents wanting their voices heard amid heavy academic and emotional learning loss here, candidate Lance Christensen, vice president of education policy, California Policy Center, told the Northern California Record.
The most recent data shows Christensen, George Yang, and Ainye Long in a close contest to face Thurmond in the general election. The Secretary of State puts the race as too close to call.
“My whole goal and purpose is to put parents in the front and center,” Christensen said, adding that the current superintendent failing to attain 50 percent underscores the dissatisfaction with schools in California.
“And out of the seven candidates a few have risen to possibly take him on, and I think the reason I was able to make any sort of campaign from literally the beginning of March, until now, was because parents are fed up with the state of education in California. Parents are just sick and tired of schools failing our kids,” said Christensen, who has five children in the public school system.
Results are scheduled to be certified by July 15.
Meanwhile, in a closely watched race in the newly drawn Third Congressional District, Republican Assemblymember Kevin Kiley and Democrat Kermit Jones both were far ahead of their party challengers and will advance to the general election. Republican Senator Brian Dahle will face off against Gov. Gavin Newsom.
Even amid low voter turnout, the emergence of Lahnee Chen as a frontrunner for the terming-out Comptroller Betty Yee marks the first time a Republican has won a statewide primary in more than a decade.
In newly drawn state Assembly District 7, longtime Assemblymember Ken Cooley, who oversaw the Capitol Annex project, earned 55 percent of the vote. Josh Hoover, a Folsom Cordova Unified School District board member who’s been Kiley’s chief of staff, leads the field of four Republican challengers.