Big lead opens up in hotly contested Bullard-area race for the Fresno Unified school board

One challenger and two incumbents in the race to fill four Fresno Unified School Board seats emerged with significant leads after Tuesday night’s midterm election, but at least one race remained too close to call.

Retired FUSD school psychologist Susan Wittrup shot ahead early Tuesday night and never looked back in the hotly-contested Bullard-area race out of northwest Fresno.

As the dust began to settle late Tuesday and early Wednesday, Wittrup captured just over 57% of the vote, and more than 3,500 votes separated her from her closest opponent in the race, incumbent Trustee Terry Slatic, who collected just over 26%.

“I visited 1000s of (voters’) doors. Their support spoke tonight,” Wittrup said over the phone from the small watch party she hosted on election night. “I’m very grateful for that. And I’m also grateful to everybody who endorsed me and gave money to my campaign. Nobody can do this by themselves. It takes a whole village.”

The incumbent, retired United States Marine Corps Major Terry Slatic, garnered 2,371 or over 25% of the vote, trailing by over 3,000 votes.

Slatic, the retired United States Marine Corps Major first elected in 2018, didn’t respond to requests for comment late Tuesday.

The race’s two other challengers, Fresno Unified teacher Jim Barr and retired Fresno Unified campus safety assistant Michael Haynes have just over 12% and 4% of the vote, respectively.

Meanwhile, just 25 votes separated incumbent Trustee Veve Islas (41.9%) and challenger Karen Steed (41.2%) in the McLane High School area race. Fresno County elections officials said ballots were still being counted Wednesday and expected to update the public Thursday. Chemist Michelle Scire was third with about 16%.

Islas called the race “closer than I’d like” at an election night watch party hosted at Vibez Lounge in Fresno’s Tower District after the second batch of votes were counted — but said she was still optimistic.

“I do think that there was an intentional campaign against me,” she said. “I’m a liberal progressive ... for folks who like conservative agendas, I’m an easy target for them to go against.”

Steed did not immediately respond to a request for comment late Tuesday night.

In the race for the Edison High area seat, Trustee Keshia Thomas appeared to be cruising to victory, collecting nearly 74% of the vote. Opponent Wayne Horton had about 25%.

Last but not least, in the Sunnyside High School area, Trustee Valerie Davis led her three challengers with about 47% of the vote. Alternative education teacher Karl C. Diaz was a distant second with almost 23% of the vote. Educator Tammy McMahon-Gorans was third with about 20%, and marketer Michael Osmer was last with roughly 9%.