L.A. Community College District race still undecided

One race for a seat on the Los Angeles Community College District board of trustees remained undecided Wednesday, with the two top vote-getters separated by fewer than 1,000 votes.

Andra Hoffman has a slim lead over Francesca Vega, according to the L.A. city clerk’s office, although there are nearly 43,000 ballots to be counted.

Under a new law, there will be no runoffs for trustee seats and the top vote-getter will win. It could take several weeks before all votes are accounted for. As of Wednesday, Hoffman had 56,377 and Vega had 55,440 -- a difference of 937, the city clerk’s office said.

“There’s still a lot to be done and a lot of ballots to be counted,” said Mike Shimpock, Vega’s campaign manager.

Hoffman’s campaign manager, Larry Levine, said he was hopeful that her slim lead would hold. “I’d rather be ahead than behind,” he said.

Hoffman was endorsed by the district’s staff union as well as the faculty union at Glendale Community College, where she works.

Vega, a policy director at Cal State Northridge, had about $52,000 in campaign contributions, nearly $13,000 more than her rival.

Hoffman’s and Vega’s campaigns had traded accusations of misleading ballot designations, false mailers and ducking debates. If Hoffman wins, she would join two other trustees on the seven-member board who were not endorsed by the L.A. faculty union in their most recent races.

In the other three contests for seats on the board, Scott Svonkin, Sydney Kamlager and Mike Fong all had large leads over their opponents.

Svonkin, Kamlager and Fong all were endorsed by the district’s faculty union, as was Vega.

The board oversees nine two-year colleges and a nearly $1.1-billion budget.

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