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The race for the Pleasanton Unified School District Trustee Area 4 seat continues to be a close one, even after the results update from Alameda County Registrar of Voters’ Office on Monday, but Charlie Jones’ lead grew to more than one hundred votes over opponent and fellow first-time candidate Jen Flynn.
Over in Area 3, the election between incumbent Trustee Kelly Mokashi and challenger Donalyn Harris saw a slight dip in the voter margin between the two after Monday’s update, however not nearly enough to break Mokashi’s moderate lead.
This is the first time the Area 3 and Area 4 seats — which cover central Pleasanton and east-central part of Pleasanton, respectively — were decided by a trustee-area election after PUSD transitioned from at-large elections.
Current Trustee Steve Maher opted not to run for reelection this November, which is what led to race between Jones and Flynn for Area 4.
According to the tallies reported by the county as of Monday morning, Jones — who grew up in Pleasanton and now teaches social studies at a high school in Hayward — has 51.17% (2,609 votes) while Flynn has 48.83% (2,490 votes). Last week, the two were separated by a slim 26-voter margin but that was when first-place Jones was barely breaking 1,000 votes.
Since then, the county has processed thousands of votes for the two PUSD races and other local elections. There are still more than 187,000 eligible ballots left to process countywide, but it’s unclear how many of those come from Pleasanton.
Jones said based on Monday’s update, he is “optimistic about winning this race”.
“Above all else, I am proud of connecting with countless people across our community — especially Pleasanton Unified’s parents, teachers and classified employees — to advance a fresh vision for our school district,” Jones told the Weekly on Monday. “Hopefully, the next wave of results will confirm the success of our grassroots campaign.”
Flynn, a former Hearst Elementary School administrative secretary and parent of three PUSD students, told the Weekly on Tuesday morning that while she is not yet conceding, she wanted to thank the community for all of its support during her campaign.
“I am honored to have so many votes for our race in PUSD District 4,” Flynn said. “We will wait patiently as the county completes counting and ensure everyone’s vote is counted. I’d like to thank the residents of Pleasanton for their continued encouragement over the past week as we await the results.”
Even though Mokashi — who originally won her seat during the at-large election in 2020 and is seeking a second term — held a strong lead in the Area 3 race ever since Election Night, she also didn’t want to declare victory out of respect and to ensure all votes were counted.
According to the registrar’s office, Mokashi had 55.65% (3,136 votes) while Harris had 44.35% (2,499 votes) as of the latest count.
“I will not make a public comment about victory until all votes are certified in early December,” Mokashi said. “But that said, I would say once again I am appreciative of all my voters and supporters — with a special thank you to my family (for) their support as well.”
Harris — a Pleasanton native, longtime member of various parent-teacher associations across the district and a former substitute teacher — told the Weekly on Monday she wanted to hold off on conceding the race but that she appreciated the grassroots efforts and support from her team and wished Mokashi “the best in the coming term”.
The registrar’s office is set to drop another round of election number updates on Friday.
“Grassroots campaign?” Sorry Charlie, you spent nearly $30,000 on a school board race and hired an out of town campaign consultant. That’s not grassroots.
Charlie, please check the definition of a grass-roots campaign. Pretty sure you did not run a grass-roots campaign!