Attempts by unions to unseat two incumbents from Fresno area school and college trustee seats by bankrolling their opponents proved unsuccessful in Tuesday’s election, although a third trustee candidate with massive union financial support was heading to victory.

Meanwhile, the wife of an outgoing Clovis Unified School Board member will likely replace her husband in his Area 2 seat.

All vote totals from Tuesday’s general election are preliminary and still must be certified by the Fresno County Elections Office before they are final.

With 100% of precincts reporting, Pablo Villagrana and James Martinez were losing their races for the State Center Community College District and Fresno Unified School Board.

Incumbent Nasreen Michelle Johnson was winning with 54% to Villagrana’s 46% in the Area 2 race to represent central and north Fresno.

Villagrana, head of the Iron Workers Local 155 in Fresno, had raised more than $100,000, mostly from union sources, in his effort to unseat Johnson. Johnson, who runs a marketing firm, had enjoyed union support in her first successful run for the State Center board in 2020.

But for this election cycle that funding source was pretty much cut off, and Johnson spent about a fifth as much as Villagrana, according to campaign finance records.

Fresno Unified

Martinez, who is director of operations at Fresno State’s ASI, was coming in second in a three-person race for the Fresno High region seat on the Fresno Unified School Board. He had given up what was probably a sure reelection to the Fresno County School Board when he opted in June to switch his candidacy and seek election to the Fresno Unified board.

The incumbent, Andy Levine, was winning with 44%, followed by Martinez with 28% and Emma Villa, an attorney and special education advocate, with 27%. Villa’s showing is noteworthy because she entered the race shortly before the filing deadline and spent less than $2,000 on her campaign. By comparison, Martinez spent over $100,000, according to his most recent campaign finance report. Levine, a Fresno State lecturer, had spent $22,000, according to his campaign’s most recent report.

In the Hoover region race, retired teacher Dan Bordona got an early start on his campaign — he announced his candidacy in 2023 — and benefitted from a union-bankrolled campaign treasury to beat incumbent Claudia Cazares. Bordona was winning with 51% to 49% for Cazares, a city of Clovis analyst seeking her third term on the board.

According to the latest campaign finance reports, Bordona’s campaign had spent nearly $78,000 compared to Cazares’ $16,600.

The Fair Political Practices Commission website shows that Bordona is the subject of a complaint over a late filing.

In the Roosevelt region, incumbent Elizabeth Jonasson Rosas was steamrolling to her third term. Jonasson Rosas, an administrator with Westlands Water District, was winning by 68%. Her opponent, Fresno State college student and former FUSD student trustee Joseph Aquino, was trailing with 32%. Neither spent significant amounts on their campaigns.

Clovis Unified

In Clovis Unified’s two contested areas, incumbent Hugh Awtrey and incumbent-by-association Molly DeFrank appear headed to victory.

DeFrank, an author and mother, was running to replace her husband, David, who decided not to seek re-election in Area 2, which includes northeast Fresno and north Clovis. What was initially a tight race in early vote returns between DeFrank and Wilma Tom Hashimoto, head of CASA of Fresno and Madera Counties, widened somewhat Tuesday evening as more votes were counted.

DeFrank was winning with 41%, Hashimoto in second with 40%, and retired teacher Janet Kardashian in third with 19%.

Awtrey, an insurance broker, was breezing to victory for a second term in the Area 4 seat, winning 62%. His opponent Gina Vue, owner of a autism center, got 38%.

Central Unified

In Central Unified School District, two longtime incumbents were facing defeat at the hands of their better-funded challengers. Both Phillip Cervantes and Richard Solis had pledged to run campaigns costing less than $2,000, apparently counting on the power of their incumbency.

Solis, a retired social worker, was being trounced in the Area 5 race by Jaspreet Sidhu, a registered nurse who had won 69% to Solis’ 31%.

Sidhu, who will join fellow Sikh-American Naindeep Singh Chann on the board, raised tens of thousands of dollars for his campaign, much of it from the Sikh community.

Cervantes, a medical supplies salesman seeking his third term in Area 3, was losing to challenger Nathalie Chavez, who received some union support. Chavez, an educational consultant, had 57% to 43% for Cervantes.