A Fresno Unified incumbent who has trailed her challenger since Election Night has surged into the lead, according to the latest vote update provided Wednesday by the Fresno County Elections Office.

The results also show that candidates are holding their leads in other tight School Board and City Council races, and one bond measure that was losing for 10 days after the election is continuing to squeak through.

The closest race has been the Fresno Unified School District Hoover region race. Dan Bordona, a retired teacher, had been ahead of incumbent Claudia Cazares, but she had been steadily closing the gap and was only down by 141 votes in Friday’s update.

In Wednesday’s update Cazares, housing programs manager with the city of Clovis, had pulled ahead and now is leading by a razor-thin 31 votes, with 50.11% to Bordona’s 49.89%.

Neither Cazares nor Bordona responded to voicemails seeking comment Wednesday afternoon. Wednesday evening Cazares sent a text saying she’s “thankful for every single voter in District 6 that came out to vote this election cycle. Though the count looks good this time around, I will wait until the vote is certified for further comments.”

If Cazares wins election to her third term, Bordona’s defeat would mark the third loss for local candidates who had received massive financial support from local trade unions, including the Fresno Teachers Association.

Pablo Villagrana, president of Iron Workers Local 155, failed to oust incumbent Nasreen Michelle Johnson in the State Center Community College District Area 2 race, and James Martinez, a Fresno County School Board trustee, lost to incumbent Andy Levine in the FUSD Fresno High region trustee race.

About 600 conditional and provision ballots remain to be counted. In addition, the Elections Office is awaiting responses from 4,100 voters whose signatures did not match records and need to file a signature cure letter by Sunday. The next vote update will be Tuesday.

Leads Unchanged for Clovis Unified, Fresno City Council

In the Clovis Unified Area 2 race that covers northeast Fresno and north Clovis, Wilma Tom Hashimoto is maintaining her lead over Molly DeFrank and Janet Kardashian. Hashimoto, executive director of CASA of Fresno Madera Counties, has 41.96% to DeFrank’s 39.38% and Kardashian’s 18.66%.

DeFrank is an author who was trying to win election to the seat now held by her husband, David, who decided not to seek reelection. Kardashian is a retired Clovis Unified teacher.

Hashimoto told GV Wire on Wednesday that the election has been “a real nail-biter,” especially in the early days after the election when she was trailing DeFrank.

Although the election results won’t be final until they are certified on Dec. 5, Hashimoto said she’s feeling confident that she’ll maintain her lead and win the Area 2 seat.

“It’s been a crazy close election if you’ve been following it,” she said. With the widening margin, Hashimoto said she’s been accepting congratulations on her apparent victory.

In the Fresno City Council Area 6 race in northeast Fresno, Marine reservist Nick Richardson is maintaining his lead over attorney Roger Bonakdar. Richardson has 51.50% to Bonakdar’s 48.50%.

Bond Measures Still Passing

Among the bond measure elections, State Center’s $698 million Measure Q has been the closest. As of Wednesday across the four-county region, Measure Q had 55.71%.

School and community college bond measures require 55% approval to pass.

Measure Q was under the 55% threshold until the Nov. 15 vote update. It is doing better in Fresno County, which has the majority of the district’s voters, with 56.33% approval, and in Tulare County, with 56.84% approval, but not in Madera County, with 51.77% approval, and in Kings County, with 27.51% approval.

Two Fresno-area school bond measures also had been under 55% initially but surged ahead in subsequent vote updates. As of Thursday, Clovis Unified’s $400 million Measure A and Sanger Unified’s $175 million Measure M both had 57.58% approval.