API Candidates Vie for L.A. County Judicial, School Board Positions

Several Asian Pacific Islander candidates were on the ballot in Los Angeles County school board and judicial races on Nov. 6.

Leonard Narumi

There was at least one Nikkei candidate, Leonard Masamichi Narumi, who ran for the Montebello Unified School District Governing Board. The three open seats went to Marisol Uribe (12,123, 16.08 percent), Jennifer Gutierrez (10,347, 13.73 percent) and Alejandro Ramirez (9,754, 12.94 percent). Narumi, a teacher with the district for over 34 years, was fourth with 8,813 (11.69 percent).

Rounding out the crowded field were Cleve Pell (7,202, 9.55 percent), Sonia Saucillo-Valencia (6,904, 9.16 percent), Miki Moreno (6,036, 8.01 percent), Art Chavez (5,653, 7.50 percent), Michael William Lopez (3,407, 4.52 percent), Francine Gardea (3,099, 4.11 percent) and Frank Thomas Morales (2,048, 2.72 percent).

Following are results for other API candidates as of Nov. 27:

Associate Justice, Court of Appeal, 2nd Appellate District, Division 5: Dorothy Kim — yes, 1,582,637 votes (75.10 percent); no, 524,636 (24.90 percent)

Tony Cho

Presiding Justice, Court of Appeal, 2nd Appellate District, Division 2: Elwood Lui — yes, 1,516,866 votes (70.15 percent); no, 645,409 (29.85 percent)

Judge of the Superior Court, Office No. 60: Deputy District Attorney Tony Cho, with 1,246,000 votes (55.66 percent), defeated Deputy Public Defender Holly Hancock (992,511, 44.34 percent).

Mt. San Antonio Community College District Governing Board, Trustee Area 2: Incumbent Gary Chow retained his seat with 12,970 votes (45.95 percent), followed by Ruth Luevand (7,633, 27.04 percent), Michael Miller Brown (4,934, 17.48 percent) and Mansfield Collins (2,691, 9.53 percent).

Baldwin Park Unified School District Governing Board: Deanna Coronado Robles and Betsabel Lara were elected with 6,581 votes (33.18 percent) and 6,145 (30.98 percent), respectively. Teresa Vargas was third with 5,274 (27.59 percent) and Laurena Pham was fourth with 1,835 (9.25 percent).

Joseph K. Chang

Fullerton Joint Union High Governing Board, Area 1: Chester Jeng (6,132, 50.05 percent) beat Regina Cuadra (6,019, 49.5 percent). This district covers parts of Orange and Los Angeles counties.

Hacienda La Puente Unified School District Governing Board: Incumbent Anthony Duarte (13,227, 23.38 percent), incumbent Joseph K. Chang (12,614, 22.29 percent) and Jeffrey De La Torre (11,818, 20.89 percent) were elected. Also running were incumbent Penny Fraumeni (9,510, 16.81 percent) and Rudy Chavarria (9,414, 16.64 percent).

Cindy Wu

Mountain View School District Governing Board: In a race for three seats, Cindy Wu (3,157, 21.49 percent), incumbent Veronica Sifuentes (3,073, 20.92 percent) and incumbent Adam Carranza (2,720, 18.52 percent) were elected. Also running were Irma Zamorano (2,404, 16.36 percent), Patricia Valencia (2,095, 14.26 percent) and Penny Sue Vasquez (1,241, 8.45 percent).

Rosemead School District Governing Board: In a race for three seats, the winners were incumbent Nancy Armenta (2,585, 28.25 percent), incumbent John Quintanilla (2,382, 24.19 percent) and Diane Benitez (1,472, 14.95 percent). Also running were Qui Dang Nguyen (1,472, 14.95 percent), Cindy Lou Cantu (1,297, 13.17 percent) and Joshua Gordon Stimpson (639, 6.49 percent).

San Marino Unified School District Governing Board: Incumbents C. Joseph Chang and Shelley Ryan were re-elected with 2,923 votes (22.63 percent) and 2,317 (17.94 percent), respectively. Corey Barberie also won a seat with 1,884 (14.59 percent). Also running were Micahel Killackey (1,788, 13.84 percent), Jane Chon (1,755, 13.59 percent), Steven Sommers (1,575,12.19 percent) and John Christopher Gabriel (675, 5.23 percent).

Mike Lin

Temple City Unified School District Governing Board (term ends Dec. 20): Matt Smith (3,846, 53.81 percent) defeated Kien C. Tiet (3,301, 46.19 percent).

Temple City Unified School District Governing Board: The top two vote-getters in the race for two seats were Mike Lin (4,321, 34.89 percent) and Donna Georgino (2,365, 19.10 percent). Also running were incumbent Vinson Bell (1,562, 12.61 percent), incumbent Louise Huff (1,384, 11.17 percent), Gregory Rodriguez (1,066, 8.61 percent), Joe Pacilio (844, 6.81 percent) and Cynthia Travis Vance (843, 6.81 percent).

Betty Lieu

Torrance Unified School District Governing Board: The winners were Betty Lieu (31,459, 29.17 percent), James Han (18,633, 17.28 percent) and Jeremy Gerson (17,317, 16.06 percent). Also running were incumbent Martha Deutsch (16,817, 15.59 percent), incumbent Michael Wermers (13,013, 12.07 percent) and Alejandro Santander (10,604, 9.83 percent).

Beach Cities Health District Board of Directors: Michelle Anne Bholat (28,602, 45.28 percent) and Noel Lee Chun (23,838, 37.74 percent) were re-elected. David Mintz (10,725, 16.98 percent) came in third.

Beach Cities Health District Board of Directors (unexpired term ending Dec. 4, 2020): Incumbent Vish Chatterji (21,241, 51.34 percent) was elected. Also running was Andrea Giancoli with 20,136 (48.66 percent).