The lead in the Clovis Unified Area 2 trustee race has flipped, with Wilma Tom Hashimoto surging ahead of the former frontrunner, Molly DeFrank.

Meanwhile, two Fresno-area school bond measures are looking more like winners than losers, based on the latest vote update released Tuesday afternoon by the Fresno County Elections Office.

In the three-candidate Clovis Area 2 trustee race, DeFrank is seeking to replace her husband, David, after he opted not to seek reelection. DeFrank, an author and mother who was endorsed by Clovis Unified School Board members and current and former district officials, dropped into second place with 39.69% of the votes cast. Hashimoto, executive director of CASA of Frenso and Madera counties, surged to the lead with 41.5%, and retired teacher Janet Kardashian was in third place with 18.6%.

In two Fresno Unified trustee races, incumbent Andy Levine and challenger Dan Bordona maintained their leads in their respective races.

Levine, a Fresno State lecturer seeking his first full term on the board, was in a double-digit percentage point lead over his challengers with 44.39% of the vote in the Fresno High region race.

James Martinez, general manager of Fresno State’s ASI and an outgoing Fresno County School Board trustee, had 28.91% and Emma Villa, a special education advocate, had 26.35%.

Villa’s vote total is noteworthy because her campaign raised and spent a fraction of Martinez’s campaign, which was heavily financed by union organizations.

Bordona, a retired teacher whose campaign also received significant union support. maintained his lead over incumbent Claudia Cazares in the Hoover region race. Bordona had 50.7% while Cazares, an analyst for the city of Clovis who was seeking her third term on the board, had 49.01%.

In the State Center Community College District Area 2 trustee race, incumbent Nasreen Michelle Johnson maintained her lead over Pablo Villagrana, president of the Iron Workers Local 155. Johnson, owner of a marketing firm who is seeking her second term on the board, had 53.64% and Villagrana had 45.97%.

Unions had poured more than $100,000 into Villagrana’s campaign, but the campaign dollars did not translate to votes.

School Bond Measures Widen Approval Margin

Clovis Unified’s Measure A and Sanger Unified’s Measure M widened their margins of approval, which were narrow after Friday’s vote update. School and community college bond measures require 55% voter approval.

Measure A, a $400 million bond measure, was passing with 56.82% voter approval based on Tuesday’s update, and the $175 million Measure M was passing with 57% voter approval.

State Center Community College District’s Measure Q, a $698 bond measure, surged in Fresno County and was passing with 55.07%. Updated vote totals were not available from Madera, Tulare, and Kings counties by deadline Tuesday.

Tulare County posted new vote totals later Tuesday, maintaining Measure Q’s voter approval over the four counties as 54.53%, short of the 55% required.

Prior to Tuesday, the only county with more than 55% approval for Measure Q was Tulare. That county and Kings represent a tiny sliver of the district’s voter base, the bulk of which is in Fresno County.

Reason for Optimism

State Center Chancellor Carole Goldsmith said she and other officials were encouraged that the Fresno County vote totals in Tuesday’s update improved the yes vote margin. Goldsmith said she remains hopeful that the votes yet to be counted in Fresno County could push Measure Q to the 55% margin.

“The fact that it continues to uptick just a little bit more each and every time, that gives us a little bit of hope,” she said. But later Wednesday, Goldsmith’s optimism dimmed somewhat with the release of vote totals in Madera, Tulare, and Kings counties, which put the yes vote margin at 54.49%, putting Measure Q farther from the 55% required.

If Measure Q is lagging by a few hundredths of a percentage point once the votes are finalized, State Center officials and the bond committee will consider whether to ask for a recount, Goldsmith said.

In Fresno County the vote totals will be updated again on Friday, and about 50,000 ballots remain to be counted. The counts remain unofficial until they have been certified by the Elections Office. The deadline for certification is Dec. 5.