Levine headed for landslide victory in Fresno Unified special school board race
Andy Levine, a community organizer and Fresno State instructor, captured a commanding lead late Tuesday in the special election to fill a vacant seat on the Fresno Unified school board.
The 38-year-old Fresno High area candidate collected 1,693 votes, or just under 56% of the vote, with 100% of precincts reporting.
Despite the seemingly insurmountable lead, Levine on Wednesday said he wasn’t ready to declare victory.
“I feel just incredibly thankful and humbled and really hopeful about this being the path forward,” Levine said. “I don’t feel comfortable, you know, sort of making that decision on my own until it’s really certified and coming from the county.”
Levine collected more votes on Tuesday night than his three opponents combined — 1,693 for Levine to 1,337 for the other three candidates.
Daniel Renteria, a retired California parole administrator, was second with 647 votes, about 21%. Renteria could not be reached for comment.
Retired high school teacher Russ Allen was third with 354 votes, or 11.68%, followed by retired firefighter Andrew Fabela with 336 votes, or 11.09%, the Fresno County Registrar of Voters Office reported after counting ended late Tuesday.
An estimated 355 ballots remain to be counted, according to an update from the clerk’s office as of 10 p.m. That includes 350 vote-by-mail ballots and five provisional ballots to be counted in the coming days.
Voter turnout low in Fresno Unified special school board election
Voter turnout was expected to be low in Tuesday’s special election, with just two local races on the ballot and most of the voting limited to the Fresno High area. Tuesday night, 3,057 ballots were counted out of 26,418 possible in the Fresno Unified race, for an 11.57% turnout rate.
Fresno County Clerk James Kus said vote centers were “quiet” Tuesday.
Around 6:30 p.m., poll workers outnumbered voters at the Fresno High vote center, with only one stopping in to use the center’s dropbox.
The County Clerk’s Office won’t certify a winner in the special election until later this month, however, with a target date of no later than April 29, Kus said.
That allows the office to tally ballots postmarked by April 12 but arrive at the office by April 19, as required by law. It also gives voters whose vote-by-mail status is challenged time to “cure” that challenge with the clerk’s office. These challenges occur when a ballot lacks a signature or when the clerk’s office determines a mismatched signature on a voter’s ballot.
The money race
In the race to represent the Fresno High area, Levine and Renteria outraised the other two candidates by tens of thousands of dollars, with Levine leading the pack.
In 2021, Levine outraised Renteria by several thousand dollars, accumulating over $36,000 in contributions to Renteria’s $5,200. He also outspent Renteria (and all other candidates), putting over $10,300 into campaign spending to Renteria’s $50.
The gap between the two leading candidates’ campaign finance shrunk in 2022. As of March 31, the Renteria campaign reported $28,272 in campaign contributions and $13,258 in expenditures. The Levine campaign comes close with just under $27,000 in contributions, not counting a few late contribution reports from later last week, and almost $20,000 in expenditures as of April 8.
Cumulatively, the Levine campaign has raised over $63,000 and spent over $30,000 – more than the other three candidates reported combined.
The two other candidates have raised much less in comparison.
Candidates who do not raise or spend more than $1,000 are not required to provide detailed disclosure of contributions, according to the Fresno County Clerk’s Office.
Kus wrote in an email to the Ed Lab that Allen remained under the $1,000 provision as of April 6. A campaign statement filed in January says that Allen would not be accepting campaign contributions and planned to self-finance.
Fabela recently received donations that moved him above the $1,000 threshold, including $2,500 from an organization called Fix Fresno Unified School District.
Levine expected to replace the late Carol Mills on FUSD school board
Should Levine’s lead hold, he’ll fill the seat left vacant by the death last year of longtime Fresno High-area Trustee Carol Mills.
An appeals court attorney by trade, Mills was first elected to the FUSD school board in 2004.
Described by Superintendent Bob Nelson as a “tireless advocate for our city’s kids,” Mills pushed for expanding after-school opportunities for all the district’s students.
Levine said that in his door-to-door canvassing during the campaign, voters consistently attested to Mills’ strong relationship with the area she represented — a legacy he said he’s committed to “carrying on.”
“Folks saw her as their trustee,” Levine said. “They saw her as very consistently present in the schools and in the neighborhoods. That’s a real testament to her.”
Mills’ successor will likely be sworn in and attend their first school board meeting in early May once the results from the special election are certified, according to Levine.
If he’s that successor, Levine said some of his priorities for the time being will be catching up on the district’s budget process and hopefully scheduling a community meeting to introduce himself to Fresno High area community members.
Lopez leads in West Park Elementary school board race
Araceli Lopez led the race for a seat on the West Park Elementary school board after the polls closed Tuesday.
Lopez captured 85 votes, or 62.96%. Opponent Jesus Silos carried 50 votes, or 37.04%, the Registrar of Voters Office reported.
About 135 ballots were counted, with 100% of precincts reporting late Tuesday, out of a possible 771 in the district.
West Park Elementary School is located southwest of Fresno.
The Education Lab is a local journalism initiative that highlights education issues critical to the advancement of the San Joaquin Valley. It is funded by donors. Learn about The Bee’s Education Lab at its website.
This story was originally published April 12, 2022 at 8:16 PM.
