Voters in Salem-Keizer largely supported a slate of progressive school board candidates over their four-person conservative opposition Tuesday in races that drew hundreds of thousands of dollars in spending.
Three progressives, sitting Second Vice Chairperson Lisa Harnisch, legal transcriptionist Mel Fuller and incumbent First Vice Chairperson Karina Guzmán Ortiz, won their elections to oversee Oregon’s second largest school district. The fourth race remained too close to call Thursday, although the final progressive candidate, Oregon State student Angelo Arredondo Baca, trailed conservative Jennifer Parker, a disability nonprofit employee.
Community for Salem-Keizer Schools, a coalition of groups that included the state’s farmworker union PCUN, the education advocacy nonprofit Stand for Children and the Salem-Keizer Education Association, supported the progressive candidates. The opposing slate largely received financial backing from the powerful conservative advocacy organization, Oregon Right to Life, and Marion+Polk First, a conservative advocacy group focused on school boards and other local races.
Among races that usually draw little spending statewide, Salem-Keizer’s school board election was notably high dollar, with nearly $375,000 spent across the four seats, according to campaign finance records as of May 23.
If Parker keeps her 294-vote lead, the seven-person board, overseeing a district of nearly 40,000 students, will be split with four progressives to three conservatives. If Arredondo Baca closes the gap, the board will be five to two.
In Zone 1, sitting member Harnisch fended off Anthony Mitchell, a businessman and Salem-Keizer parent. Returns as of 5 p.m. Thursday showed Harnisch beating Mitchell with about 56% of the vote to 43%.
In Zone 5, incumbent Guzmán Ortiz overcame a challenge from Jason Kroker, a heavy equipment technician at the Oregon Department of Transportation. Thursday’s 5 p.m. ballot drop showed Guzmán Ortiz winning with 53% of the vote to 47% for Kroker.
The race for control of Zone 7 resulted in Fuller defeating business owner Jeremiah Radka. Returns as of 5 p.m. Thursday showed Fuller beating Radka with 55% of the vote to 45%.
Thursday’s 5 p.m. returns showed Arredondo Baca and Parker separated by 294 votes in the Zone 3 race, with at least 2,000 more ballots left to count in Marion County, although not all of them will be in the Salem-Keizer School District, County Clerk Bill Burgess said.
School board elections are typically low-budget affairs, but most of this year’s Salem-Keizer candidates received more than $40,000 in cash and in-kind contributions, according to campaign finance records as of May 23. Oregon Right to Life and Marion+Polk First spent more than $185,000 combined on Radka, Mitchell, Kroker and Parker. PCUN, Stand for Children and Community for Salem-Keizer Schools spent more than $115,000 on their four-candidate slate.
The costliest single race was Zone 1, where Harnisch fought to keep the seat she was appointed to last year. More than $100,000 was spent on the sitting second vice chairperson and Mitchell combined.
Although school board positions are nonpartisan, this is not the first year these two coalitions have warred over the Salem-Keizer School Board. In 2021, after several years of a conservative majority buoyed by Oregon Right to Life, Community for Salem-Keizer Schools put forward a slate of progressive candidates and flipped control. In 2023, significant funding for candidates came from Oregon Right to Life and Marion+Polk First as well as Community for Salem-Keizer Schools.
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This year, conservative candidates ran on platforms that emphasized career and technical education programs, as well as improving student success in reading, writing, math and science. Safety was also an underpinning of their campaigns, with several calling for the return of police officers to Salem-Keizer schools.
The progressive slate’s priorities included improving literacy rates and creating safe and welcoming learning environments for children. They also emphasized community engagement.
— Eddy Binford-Ross covers education and local politics for The Oregonian/OregonLive. Reach her at
ebinford-ross@oregonian.com
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Salem-Keizer voters choose largely progressive school board candidates in unusually expensive election
Salem-Keizer voters choose largely progressive school board candidates in unusually expensive election
Salem-Keizer voters choose largely progressive school board candidates in unusually expensive election