Wednesday, November 4, 2026

Challenger Kealing Leads Incumbent Kenne in Pasadena Unified School Board Count

Michelle Richardson Bailey and Cynthia Torres also lead as Los Angeles County continues counting; results are not final

Challenger Felita Kealing led incumbent Kimberly Kenne for the District 1 seat on the Pasadena Unified School District Board of Education in results posted early Wednesday, while incumbent Michelle Richardson Bailey and Cynthia Torres led their races in Districts 3 and 7.

Kealing had 3,119 votes, or 56.91 percent, to 2,362 votes, or 43.09 percent, for Kenne, who has served on the Board since 2011. Kealing’s margin was 757 votes.

The results, reported by the L.A. County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk as of 3:11 a.m. Wednesday, are not final. The registrar’s office has scheduled a count update for Wednesday afternoon. Vote-by-mail ballots postmarked by Election Day are verified and counted if they arrive by Nov. 10, and the County is scheduled to certify results Nov. 27.

In District 3, Richardson Bailey, who was first elected to the Board in 2017, had 3,777 votes, or 62.81 percent, to 2,236 votes, or 37.19 percent, for Veronica Elias, a margin of 1,541 votes.

In District 7, an open seat because incumbent Yarma Velázquez did not run for reelection, Torres had 5,166 votes, or 58.21 percent, to 3,709 votes, or 41.79 percent, for Dennis J. McNamara, a margin of 1,457 votes.

A fourth seat, in District 5, was not on the ballot. Incumbent Patrice Marshall McKenzie was unopposed and will be appointed to the seat.

The winners will serve on a seven-member Board that voted 4-3 last year to cut $24.5 million from the current school year’s budget and 4-3 in June to begin a “District Transformation Process” that could lead to school consolidations.

Kenne voted for both. Kealing wrote in responses to an LAist candidate survey that she would have voted against both. “Historically, [Pasadena Unified School District] has proven that mass closures fail to fix our structural issues,” Kealing wrote. Kenne wrote of consolidation, “This may mean having fewer schools open.”

Richardson Bailey voted against both. Elias wrote that she would have voted against the cuts and for the transformation process.

McNamara wrote that he would have voted for both. On the consolidation debate, Torres wrote that she would like to “propose a middle path” framed by “budget realities, community concerns and revenue strategies.”

Counties must report an estimate of their remaining unprocessed ballots to the California Secretary of State two days after the election, which is Thursday.