Four of the seven seats on the Duval County School Board were up for grabs in the Aug. 20 election, and each race was loaded with intensity and attempts to influence the vote by Gov. Ron DeSantis.
As of 7:40 p.m., with 156 of the 160 voting precincts reported, it's a mixed bag for Team DeSantis.
District 1
The District 1 seat for the School Board represents largely the Arlington and Fort Caroline neighborhoods and Northeast Jacksonville. It was vacated by Kelly Coker. Nadine Ebri, who has been an educator in Jacksonville for a decade, squared off against Tony Ricardo, a former high school teacher in Duval County.
Ricardo had 53.73% of the vote less than an hour after polls had closed. Ebri had 46.27% of the ballots.
Both candidates brought heavy endorsements and influence into the campaign for District 1. Ricardo was endorsed by DeSantis in July because he "is a candidate who is committed to fighting for schools to get back to the fundamentals," the Governor said.
Ebri brought her own stable of endorsements and influence including the Jacksonville Association of Firefighters, Duval Teachers United, the Jacksonville National Organization for Women and about a half dozen other organizations and politicians who have backed her run for School Board.
District 3
The Duval County School Board District 3 race saw competition between Rebecca "Becky" Nathanson and incumbent Cindy Pearson.
The District 3 seat represents the geographic area of traditional and historic neighborhoods south of the St. Johns River — such as San Marco, St. Nicholas and San Jose — and stretches into the Mandarin area.
The race is still very tight with Pearson hanging on to a lead with 50.94% of the vote and Nathanson with 49.06%
The District 3 School Board race saw the most amount of campaign financial contributions for any School Board race in Jacksonville this election cycle. Pearson drew upon her experience and backing from some conservative supporters such as former Jacksonville Mayor John Peyton, who contributed to her campaign through his family's company Gate Petroleum Co., a major corporation in the North Florida area.
Nathanson sought to bring a more conservative flavor to the School Board. She's been a high-profile activist in Moms for Liberty and other conservative-leaning organizations. And DeSantis also threw his support behind her.
District 5
The District 5 Duval County School Board race drew the most candidates, with three people seeking the position, which represents the urban areas just north of downtown Jacksonville. Candidates in the race included Reggie Blount, Nahshon Nicks and Hank Rogers.
None of the candidates in the District 5 race were rookies in the Duval County political arena. This race will likely require a runoff race on the Nov. 5 General Election. Blount had 40.81% and Rogers had 39.88%, and with no one securing a majority, it will force the runoff.
Nicks and Blount are both experienced politicians as each had run unsuccessfully for Jacksonville City Council in previous years. While Rogers ran for the Duval County School Board in 2016. District 5 was the only School Board race with more than two candidates.
Blount also was the candidate who picked up the endorsement from DeSantis in the District 5 race.
District 7
And the final Duval County School Board seat up for grabs was District 7, which services the Southern area of Jacksonville surrounding the Interstate 95 and Interstate 295 interchange in the Baymeadows neighborhoods.
Melony Bolduc and Sarah Mannion squared off in the contest. Bolduc, a former teacher in both Duval and Clay counties, is another Moms for Liberty activist who was endorsed by DeSantis. Mannion is a lawyer who campaigned on maintaining high-quality teachers in schools.
Bolduc has 56.49% of the vote in that district, while Mannion garnered 43.19%, making it likely Bolduc will capture the seat.
Bolduc unsuccessfully ran for School Board in 2016. Mannion claimed she was the best candidate for the District 7 seat because she was an active participant in the PTA and also took part in several parental advisory panels.
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