LAUSD District 7: What We Know So Far

RESULTS: EARLY RETURNS
(As of 11:58 p.m. Tuesday)

Keep in mind that even after all precincts have been counted, there will still be ballots to count. In some cases, it could be weeks before the official outcome is clear.

* incumbent

(Courtesy of LAUSD)

For more than a decade, District 7 has been home to the Los Angeles Unified School Board’s “swing vote”: Richard Vladovic.

Since first winning the seat in 2007, Vladovic has won endorsements from groups on both sides of LAUSD’s charter school debate. His voting record defies easy characterization as either friend or foe of the teachers' union.

But Vladovic is now termed out — and five candidates are running in Tuesday’s primary to take his seat, which covers an area from South L.A. into the Harbor communities:

• Patricia Castellanos, a labor activist who founded the group Reclaim our Schools L.A., has the backing of United Teachers Los Angeles. The teachers' union has spent almost $800,000 to boost her candidacy.
• Tanya Ortiz Franklin works at the Partnership for L.A. Schools. Her campaign has benefited from more than $1.3 million in independent expenditures by pro-charter school philanthropist Bill Bloomfield.
• Mike Lansing — who’s running to reclaim an LAUSD board seat he held from 1999 to 2007 — leads all candidates in in-house fundraising. He’s also benefited from almost $300,000 in independent ads paid for by Bloomfield.
• Silke Bradford has overseen charter schools in the Compton Unified and Oakland Unified school districts, and for the L.A. County Office of Education. She won the L.A. Times’ endorsement in the race, but trails all other candidates in fundraising.
• Lydia Gutiérrez is a Long Beach Unified teacher who’s run previously for this seat, for state senate and for state schools superintendent.

The critical candidate to watch Tuesday night is Castellanos: if she can’t make the November ballot, United Teachers Los Angeles’ hopes of regaining a solid majority of allies on the LAUSD board would take a big hit.

YOUR GUIDE

• The Race For LAUSD Board District 7

YOU SHOULD KNOW

• Why Declaring Winners In California May Take A Minute
• This Might End Up Being The Most Expensive LAUSD School Board Primary Ever