Election 2026: Early ballot returns indicate who’s leading in local school board races

Aside from local city council races, other decisions Orange County voters considered Tuesday was the question of who will be entrusted to run local school districts.

Coastal Orange County races took place in the Newport-Mesa Unified, Fountain Valley, Huntington Beach City, Ocean View and Laguna Beach Unified school districts and the Coast Community College District for a number of different seats on each respective board. Here’s a look at local race results as of Wednesday’s 5 p.m. ballot count.

NEWPORT-MESA UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT

Although four of seven officials serving on the NMUSD Board of Trustees faced the end of their current terms this year, two incumbents — Trustee Area 4 representative Lisa Pearson, elected in 2022, and Andrea McElroy, appointed to Trustee Area 5 in July 2025 — saw no challengers.

Trustee Area 2, which covers northern and central areas of Costa Mesa, saw a contest between incumbent Michelle Murphy, elected in 2022, and Craig Holiday. As of Wednesday, Murphy was leading the race with 67.23% support and 3,971 votes, while Holiday trailed with 1,936 votes (32.77%).

NMUSD Trustee Area 7, representing Westside Costa Mesa schools, offered a vacancy when Board Member Ashley Anderson decided not to run for reelection. In that race, Andy Godinez is leading with 57.83% backing and 2,446 votes, compared to Grace Diñino-Hickok, who’s received 1,784 votes, or 42.17% support.

FOUNTAIN VALLEY SCHOOL DISTRICT

Fountain Valley residents were asked to vote for up to three candidates in a four-person field running for the Fountain Valley School District board of trustees, which governs over seven elementary and three middle schools.

Board President Dennis Cole, with 10,008 votes as of Wednesday evening, led the contest in his bid for a second term. Challengers Rick Nichols (29.87%) and Carl Blankenhorn (24.87%) were also on track to join the five-person board. Eugene Murray had received 14.31% of the vote.

President Pro Tem Phu Nguyen did not seek reelection following an initial term, nor did Sandra Crandall, who had served on the board since 2010.

HUNTINGTON BEACH CITY SCHOOL DISTRICT

This election cycle, the local K-8 district had just one seat up for election, and Diana Marks was looking good in her bid for reelection for Trustee Area 4.

Marks, a retired middle school teacher in the district who was first elected to the board in 2018, has received 54.55% approval as of Wednesday evening, with 2,540 votes. Challenger Laura Costelloe, a former PTA president and member of the city’s Community & Library Services commissioner, has so far received the nod from 2,116 voters, or 45.4% of the total.

OCEAN VIEW SCHOOL DISTRICT

Ocean View candidate Jennifer Rank, who was appointed in June to fill a vacant position, leads in her bid to keep the Trustee Area 5 seat.

A former PTA president at Harbour View Elementary School, Rank had 53.93% of the vote, with 2,781 ballots cast in her favor, leading challenger David Clifford’s 2,376 ballots as of Wednesday evening.

Clifford previously ran for the board in an at-large election in 2024.

LAGUNA BEACH UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT

Laguna Beach Unified School District board of education meetings provided their fair share of contentious moments over the past two years, and with the balance of the board resting in the hands of the voters, the early results signaled an incoming shakeup.

Joan Malczewski, an incumbent, and challengers Shaheen Sheik-Sadhal and Kimberly Smith had aligned their campaigns, and as of Wednesday morning, they held substantial leads in the race for the three open seats.

Malczewski paced the group with 6,551 votes, amounting to 25.83% of ballots counted, followed by Sheik-Sadhal (6,181 votes, for 24.4%) and Smith (23.8% with 6,048 ballots). Elizabeth Bates (13.32%), another challenger, trailed Smith by approximately 2,670 votes Wednesday evening, having earned 3,378 votes. Incumbent Dee Perry, a three-term board member, trailed with 3,201 ballots cast in her favor (12.62%).

Sheik-Sadhal, the founding president of Families Unified for Education in Laguna, which formed in early 2025 following the election of current school board president Sheri Morgan and Howard Hills, called it “pretty exciting” to see the first drop of results on Tuesday night.

“When we first started, how we ran our slate was about building trust and collaboration with the staff and the district and getting back to what’s best for students,” said Sheik-Sadhal. “Clearly, that resonated with our community. Everybody was tired of the chaos and dysfunction, and all the things that we’ve been watching for the last couple of years.”

The dismissal of Jason Glass as superintendent and subsequent selection of Don Austin as incoming superintendent within 48 hours was one moment that defined a chaotic period, she said.

“Our community decided what we all knew all along, but it was good to see it last night, was just how important our schools are to this community, and how much they’re prepared to protect that public asset for our children.”

LAGUNA BEACH UNIFIED’S MEASURE A

Laguna Beach voters broadly backed Measure A, authorizing $83 million in bonds to repair and upgrade aging facilities in the school district.

Results released Wednesday evening showed the bond measure receiving 7,369 votes, or 67.13% approval. District Supt. Don Austin, in a statement, called the measure’s success “a tremendous vote of confidence in our schools and our community.”

The funding will be subject to independent citizen oversight and annual audits.

Kelly Osborne, a former LBUSD school board member who served from 2020 to 2024, chaired the Safe, Modern Laguna Schools campaign.

“We talked a lot with voters about how excellent our public education system is locally,” Osborne said. “… Having the best facilities, having the safest, having the most modern facilities is important to us … The question to the community was really whether they would continue to invest in that school system. I’m just really pleased that everybody still believes that our schools are worth investing in.”

COAST COMMUNITY COLLEGE DISTRICT

Two-term Seal Beach City Council member Joe Kalmick leads in the race for Trustee Area 1, which includes Seal Beach and Westminster, with 15,449 votes or 46.07% support as of 5 p.m. Wednesday. That’s ahead of Austin Edsell with 43.21% (14,489 ballots) and Ashton Kauwe with 3,595 votes, or 10.7% support.

In Trustee Area 3, which includes Huntington Beach, former Huntington Beach Mayor Kim Carr was on her way to victory with 65.78% of the vote and 21,316 votes. Carr is an incumbent, following her appointment in March. Conrad Mazeika had 7,879 ballots to his name (24.31%), while James Cameron earned 9.9% backing with 3,209 votes.

Incumbent Elizabeth Dorn Parker is headed to victory in Trustee Area 5, which includes Newport Beach and Newport Coast, with 64.51% of the vote and 20,044 ballots. Challenger Xerxez Megino Calilung had 35.6% support with 11,029 votes as of Wednesday evening.