With Runoffs Expected in School Board District 3 and 7 Races, Schmerelson Likely to Face Koziatek in November

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Parent Marilyn Koziatek (center) celebrates Tuesday night with her husband (right) and a parent supporter (left) at Granada Hills Charter High, the school where she works.

Parent Marilyn Koziatek (center) celebrates Tuesday night with her husband (right) and a parent supporter (left) at Granada Hills Charter High, the school where she works.

Votes are still being counted in the Los Angeles Unified school board races, but results as of Friday suggest incumbent District 3 Board Member Scott Schmerelson will likely head to a November runoff against parent and school leader Marilyn Koziatek in the San Fernando Valley, while workforce deputy Patricia Castellanos will face teacher and attorney Tanya Ortiz Franklin for the open seat in BD7.

Meanwhile, District 5 Board member Jackie Goldberg is expected to win reelection in Southeast and Northeast L.A, and District 1 incumbent George McKenna won reelection with no opponent on the ballot.

With thousands of late mail-in ballots votes still outstanding, it’s possible, albeit unlikely, that results could change.

In District 3, Schmerelson has come under heavy criticism for his financial investments in tobacco/vaping giant Altria, which owns JUUL, as well as for his failure to accurately disclose these personal investments, as required by law.

With two challengers in the race, Schmerelson came in well under the 50% threshold needed to avoid a runoff. As of Wednesday evening, Schmerelson had 41.7% of the vote, while LAUSD parent and Granada Hills Charter High employee Marilyn Koziatek received 31.7%.

Third-place candidate Elizabeth Bartels-Badger, who received 26.5% of the vote, sent a message to supporters Friday saying “we came so very close…Although ballots are still being counted, we probably will not be able to find the finish line.”

In the race to succeed retiring Board Member Richard Vladovic in District 7, which runs from South L.A. to San Pedro, two Latina candidates are expected to go head to head in November. Labor-backed candidate Castellanos led narrowly with 26.7% of the vote as of Friday afternoon, while Franklin, who works for the Partnership for Los Angeles Schools, claimed the second runoff spot with 23.7%. Trailing behind were former Board Member Mike Lansing (20.8%), teacher Lydia Gutierrez (20%) and charter authorizer Silke Bradford (8.9%).

In District 5, incumbent Goldberg was leading challenger Christina Martinez Duran with 56.6% of the vote compared to 43.3%, a much tighter race than Goldberg faced in last year’s special election, when she cruised to victory with more than 70% of the vote.

That reflects the far larger turnout in this election, which was aligned with the presidential primary for the first time. It also likely reflects far greater Latino participation in a majority Latino district, especially with presidential candidate Bernie Sanders on the ballot, who has strong support from Latino voters. Goldberg also faced a negative campaign by an outside spender focused on how she has served Latino students in her district.

*This story was updated with the latest results posted as of Friday evening.