Jorge Lerma on path to filling critical Oakland school board seat, but more results to come

OAKLAND — Former school principal Jorge Lerma has a substantial lead in the race for a vacant Oakland Unified school board seat, but later returns on Thursday indicated that opponent Sasha Ritzie-Hernandez is cutting into it.

Lerma now has roughly a 57% to 43% advantage over Ritzie-Hernandez, narrowed down from the 63% to 37% advantage he held in initial Tuesday night results.

Close to 1,300 additional eligible ballots were counted in the latest returns, bringing the total turnout to about 3,500 in Oakland’s District 5, a largely Latino area south of I-580 that includes parts of East Oakland, including Fremont High and the Fruitvale neighborhood.

It’s unclear how many votes are left to count, given that any ballots that arrive in the coming days must be tabulated, as long as they were postmarked on or before the day of the special election on Nov. 6.

The District 5 seat is the only one vacant on the Oakland Unified School District board, which frequently finds itself split over finances and political issues — particularly ones concerning the robust teachers union.

Labor groups independently spent nearly $50,000 trying to elect Ritzie-Hernandez, a strong union ally who was also endorsed by state Attorney General Rob Bonta.

Lerma saw no such financial support, though in the last days before the election he canvassed neighborhoods with former Mayor Libby Schaaf and one-time Councilmember Loren Taylor.

The two candidates have not previously held office. Lerma decades ago served as a principal in the Oakland schools, while Ritzie-Hernandez has been an education advocate and volunteered for a past school board campaign.

In his last bid for the District 5 seat, Lerma received just 11% of the vote in a three-candidate race.

He based his campaign on diversifying the faculty at Oakland schools and converting the district’s smaller campuses — some of which were unsuccessfully slated for closure in years past — into part-time community centers.

In lieu of offering clear policy goals, Ritzie-Hernandez said she was eager to learn on the job and intended to be a trustable voice for marginalized students.