Melinda Anderson, Emil Roger Barham, David Sola, and Steven Schwartz are leading in the race for four seats and a board majority on the Temecula school board, early election results on Tuesday, Nov. 5 show.
Anderson is leading with 56.40% of the vote, Barham is leading with 41.69% of the vote, Sola is leading with 50.43% of the vote, and Schwartz is leading with 53.69% of the vote.
The campaign has been a fight between two PACs, One Temecula Valley PAC, created to push back against the Inland Empire Family PAC, a conservative parents’ rights group that since 2020 has backed school board candidates.
Four of the five board seats are up for election: Trustee Areas, 1, 2, 4 and 5. The Temecula Valley Unified School District board had a conservative majority until board member Danny Gonzalez resigned in December 2023 to move to Texas. Former school board President Joseph Komrosky was recalled in June 2024.
LIVE ELECTION RESULTS: See a chart of the latest vote counts
Trustee Area 1
Two candidates are running in Trustee Area 1. Incumbent Allison Barclay, has been on the board since 2021 and is endorsed by One Temecula Valley PAC, a non-partisan grassroots group.
Barclay currently has 43.60%, putting her behind Anderson.
In response to a Southern California News Group questionnaire, she said that her top priorities are safety and security, ensuring academic achievement, mental health and well being and creating a culture where students welcomed and successful.
Anderson would focus on improving academics, empowering parents, spending oversight and campus safety, according to her website.
Trustee Area 2
Three candidates are vying for the Gonzalez’s former seat.
Oddi currently has 40.57% of the vote putting him just over 1% behind Barham, Talarzyk currently has 17.74% putting her almost 24% behind the leader.
Barham said in response to a Southern California News Group questionnaire that he supports parent notification policies and that his focus would be raising student grades.
Responding to the same questionnaire, Gary Oddi, a One Temecula Valley PAC candidate, said he plans to create a multi-year master plan and wants more training and resources for teachers, staff and students.
Angela Talarzyk said in the questionnaire that the district needs mental health initiatives and evidence-based curriculum.
Trustee Area 4
Komrosky said he would try to regain his seat shortly after his June recall and was endorsed again by the Inland Empire Family PAC. In the questionnaire, Komrosky said he remains “committed to working with the superintendent, parents and teachers” to expand mental health services, English language learner and special education programs.
Komrosky currently has 49.57% of the vote putting him just under 1% behind his opponent.
Sola was endorsed by One Temecula Valley PAC. Sola said in his questionnaire that supports student safety, parental involvement and academic excellence. The district “cannot afford to be distracted” by political influence and “must focus on the statistics and solutions,” he wrote.
Trustee Area 5
Schwartz joined the board in 2020 and is endorsed by One Temecula Valley PAC. He supports parent involvement, keeping politics out of education, the arts and programs for special education and English learner students.
Facing Schwartz is an Inland Empire Family PAC candidate John Cobb . Cobb wants to keep drugs out of schools, supports parents’ rights and backs the removal of explicit material, his website states.
Early results show Cobb currently has 46.31% of the vote putting him 7.38% behind Schwartz.
The board’s conservative majority made headlines since the 2022 election.
Komrosky, Gonzalez, and Jen Wiersma, who is not up for election, voted at their first meeting in late 2022 to ban the teaching of critical race theory, a term often used by conservatives to attack certain lessons about diversity and the role of race in U.S. history.
They also made national headlines for trying to ban a social studies curriculum that referenced slain LGBTQ civil rights leader Harvey Milk and got into a feud with Gov. Gavin Newsom, who threatened to fine Temecula schools and send the district textbooks if the board didn’t adopt the curriculum. It eventually did.
On 3-2 votes, the conservative majority also voted to require Temecula school officials to notify parents if their child identifies as transgender and OK’d a policy that critics said prohibits the display of pride flags on school grounds.
