Election results: Here’s who is leading for Tri-Cities school boards
Voters overwhelmingly returned incumbent Tri-City school board members to office on Tuesday.
Seven school board seats in Kennewick, Richland and Pasco were up for reelection this year. Incumbents campaigned to keep five of those seats, and initial election results showed all were in the lead.
Benton County election officials will update results at 4 p.m. Wednesday. About 25,000 ballots still need to be counted. Franklin County will update results 7 p.m. on Wednesday.
Brown holds edge in Pasco
Amanda Brown held a 79-vote lead over Steve Christensen in the race for Pasco School Board’s director District 3 seat.
She had 52%, or 860 votes. Christensen trailed with 48%, or 780 votes.
Brown is the school board president and Kennewick teacher who ousted Christensen two years ago in a narrow race.
Christensen, a mechanical engineer and small business owner, previously served three terms on the board.
In the open race for the school board’s sole at-large seat, Scott Lehrman had a demanding lead over Valerie Torres, 62% to 38%.
Lehrman had 4,400 votes, and Torres trailed with 2,700 votes.
The seat had been filled by Steve Simmons since 2023.
Lehrman previously served 10 years on the school board in another seat before he resigned in 2023 to allow his wife to take a permanent teaching job in the Pasco School District. After failing to get an appointment that year, the chemical engineer and father of four threw his hat into this year’s race.
Torres is a Pasco mom who rallied downtown businesses last year that were affected by the Lewis Street Overpass closures. She’s the office manager at Lewis Street Tire, her family-owned business.
Substitute teacher and Pasco mother Heather Kubalek won election to the open Director District 4 seat, which includes the rural northern parts of the school district.
She had 99% support, or 1,800 votes. She will replace outgoing school board member Amy Phillips.
Valentine leads Franklin in Kennewick
Micah Valentine was leading challenger Robert Franklin in the race for Kennewick School Board.
Valentine had 56%, or 4,400 votes. Franklin trailed with 44%, or 3,500 votes.
Valentine is the first-term incumbent who serves as the school board’s vice president. The marketing consultant and business owner campaigned this year on making school lunches healthier and reforming state regulations around transgender athlete participation in sports.
Franklin is an assistant history professor at Washington State University Tri-Cities and Hanford historian. He said he’s running to diversify the ideological perspective on the school board, and to bring a teacher’s perspective to the board.
School board President Gabe Galbraith won another four-year term.
He had 71%, or 5,600 votes. His opponent, radiochemist Nic Uhnak dropped out of the race after the deadline to withdraw his name from the ballot. He had 28%, or 2,200 votes.
Mitchell crushes Bakhazi in Richland
Incumbent Bonnie Mitchell was elected to her first full term serving on Richland School Board.
The stay-at-home mom led with a decisive 92%, or 7,400 votes. Her challenger, Jacques Bakhazi, a district bus driver, had 8%, or 600 votes.
Mitchell was appointed to the seat in September 2023 after former school board member Semi Bird was recalled and declined to seek office. She’s seeking her first full term, and said she is running to resolve the district’s critical budget shortfall and to rebuild community trust.
Bakhazi has worked for the district since 2019 and says his work will not interfere in his ability to serve if elected. He said he was running to reform the way the board oversees its finances.
Director No. 2 incumbent Rick Jansons also will return to the board. He had 97%, or 6,800 votes, with no opponent on the ballot.
This story was originally published November 4, 2025 at 8:48 PM.
