West Contra Costa school board incumbents lead in early returns

Early election results put incumbents Demetrio Gonzales-Hoy and Leslie Reckler in the lead for the two West Contra Costa Unified school board seats up for re-election this year.

Contra Costa County’s unofficial election night report shows Gonzales-Hoy with 70% of the vote over Area 4 challenger Olivia Liou, and Leslie Reckler with 63% of the vote over Area 5 challenger Patricio Dujan. The district, which serves the cities of Richmond, El Cerrito, Hercules, Pinole, San Pablo and surrounding areas, has a total of five school board seats.

Of the five board members, three are backed by the local teachers union, the United Teachers of Richmond. Though Reckler was endorsed by the union when she ran for theboard in 2020, the United Teachers of Richmond endorsed her challenger this year.