Despite a high-profile campaign dedicated to pulling her out of office, incumbent Anna Song was leading the race for Santa Clara County School Board Trustee Area 5 early Wednesday morning.
Song received 57.13 percent of the vote (22,568 votes), while her opponent David Neighbors received 42.87 percent of the vote (16,935 votes), with a total of 103 out of 120 precincts reporting at 3:30 a.m.
Anna Song is a longtime board member of Trustee Area 5, which encompasses Santa Clara Unified, Milpitas Unified, and Berryessa Union. She was originally elected in 2000, and re-elected in 2004 and 2008.
David Neighbors, a partner in charge of SingerLewak's Silicon Valley Tax Practice, was the choice candidate of the Santa Clara County Schools Political Action Committee, a group whose financial backers included Laurene Powell Jobs and the California Charter School Association.
The PAC criticized Song for supposedly not caring about charter schools such as the controversial Bullis Charter School in Los Altos -- allegations Song and her supporters dismissed.
The only other Trustee Area to hold elections for a County School Board spot was Trustee Area 1, where Grace Mah was leading over David Cortright with 66.96 versus 33.04 percent of the vote, with a total of 115 of 138 precincts reporting. Mah was also backed by the Santa Clara County Schools Political Action Committee, who praised her as being a consistent supporter of education reform.
