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More than a week after Election Day, Chicago voters in three electoral districts have clarity about who will represent them on the city’s first fully elected school board. A fourth race remains too close to call as mail-in ballots trickle in.
The updated results reaffirm the new power balance that emerged from the Nov. 3 election. Candidates backed by pro-school choice groups will make up a narrow majority, loosening the teachers union’s current stronghold. The official proclamation of results in the historic election is scheduled for Tuesday, Nov. 24, according to the Chicago Board of Elections.
Jason Dónes beat incumbent Carlos Rivas Jr. in District 3b, which includes Humboldt Park on the West Side. Michilla Blaise’s lead over Anthony Hargrove gives her enough votes to keep her seat representing District 5b, which runs from the West Loop to Austin on the West Side. And incumbent Emma Lozano will stay on the board despite a challenge from Jesus Ayala Jr. in District 7a, which stretches from Pilsen to Cicero on the Southwest Side.
In District 6a, which extends from downtown to Wicker Park, Isaiah White is holding onto a narrow lead, just 145 votes ahead of incumbent Anusha Thotakura. A third candidate, Brenda Lee Anderson, trails Thotakura by about 1,000 votes.
Dónes, a CTU-backed CPS dad, got 52% of the vote and sent a statement Tuesday evening declaring victory in a rematch against Rivas, whom he faced in 2024. This time, the outcome tipped in his favor over the incumbent, who had the backing of SEIU, the union representing school support staff, and pro-school choice groups the Illinois Network of Charter Schools and Urban Center. Rivas also drew support from the Common Ground Collective, an anti-CTU political action committee funded heavily by billionaire Michael Sacks.
“They had millions of dollars, but we had community,” Dónes wrote. “Hundreds of volunteers who knocked doors, talked to their neighbors, organized their blocks, and refused to let outside spending determine who would represent their children.”
In a text message Thursday morning, Rivas said “CTU got me good” and lamented negative mailers and ads on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube that Dónes’ campaign put out about him.
“I have yet to call him to concede, but it’s on my to-do list,” Rivas wrote.
With a wider margin in District 5b, Blaise retained her spot on the school board over Hargrove with more than 52% of the vote. In an Instagram post a few days after the election, Blaise thanked her daughters.
“I see so much greatness in the way they see the world and so much promise in the possibilities that await them,” she wrote. “After reminding them regularly that they can do anything, I heard my own words.”
In District 7a, incumbent and CTU-backed Lozano fought off a challenge from Ayala, who, like Dónes, ran in 2024. Ayala did not make the ballot two years ago, but this year, he had the backing of all the major education groups besides CTU. Still, he came up short with 46% of the vote to Lozano’s 54%.
Becky Vevea is the bureau chief for Chalkbeat Chicago. Contact Becky at bvevea@chalkbeat.org.
