Conservative school board president Sonja Shaw leads in primary for state superintendent

Sonja Shaw — a Trump-aligned Republican whose public profile rose as she became identified with culture-war causes, including banning transgender athletes from girls’ sports — has emerged as the leading vote-getter in the June primary for California’s superintendent of public instruction.

With all precincts at least partially reporting Wednesday, Shaw, with 24.9% of the tallied votes, was well ahead of Democrat Richard Barrera, who had 18.9% of the votes. Even with vote-counting ongoing, that lead would be difficult to surmount.

Both Shaw, 43, and Barrera, 59, are school board presidents.

Shaw heads the elected Board of Education for Chino Valley Unified in San Bernardino County, a diverse but substantially conservative inland portion of Southern California.

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June 11, 2026

On Tuesday night, Shaw sounded hopeful and confident that her campaign themes were resonating beyond her conservative roots.

“I am humbled and grateful that Californians from every corner of our state have rallied behind this campaign,” Shaw said in a statement. “What we’ve built is more than a campaign. It’s a diverse movement of communities who believe our schools can do better and who are determined to make that happen.”

Among its high-profile actions, the Chino Valley board majority put forward a policy that would require parents to be notified if their child expressed gender-identity issues at school. Shaw and her allies also approved a policy that allows parents to challenge the content of library books.

In the primary, Shaw was greatly helped by a candidate field that included seven Democrats, including veteran legislators and local school district officials.

Most of these Democrats had a significant voter or financial base or both, and they essentially took each other out by winning a fair number of votes, but not nearly enough: rural school district Supt. Wendy Castaneda Leal, 9.7%; L.A. Community College Trustee Nichelle Henderson, 8.2%; former state legislator Anthony Rendon, 8.2%; current state legislator Al Muratsuchi, 7.8%; former state legislator Josh Newman, 7.3%.

Barrera heads the school board of San Diego Unified, the state’s second-largest school district, serving an area with liberal leanings, but that is also politically diverse.

An obvious difference for Barrera was a $5-million independent campaign on his behalf from the California Teachers Assn., which he acknowledged Wednesday morning.

“The CTA campaign made all the difference and it’s based on a long track record and partnership that I’ve had with educators in San Diego,” Barrera said.

Among the Democrats vying for the office, “we had a field of very qualified, experienced candidates,” Barrera added.

One of these candidates, Rendon, quickly endorsed Barrera.

Barrera sees the teachers union support as emblematic of a positive vision he has for education that will unite most voters around his campaign in November.

“Our message is all about unifying communities, believing in all of our students,” he said.

“We absolutely reject the divisive politics that pits one group of students against another,” he added, in a direct reference to Shaw’s high-profile stands related to transgender students.

For Shaw, by contrast, the CTA’s financial support for Barrera signals a political machine vying to remain in power, detached from the best interests of students and out of touch with parents.

“The education establishment spent millions to protect the status quo,” Shaw said. “California voters had other ideas. Now, we take this momentum into November and continue building a coalition that reaches every family that wants a brighter future for our children.”

She added: “The choice in November will be clear: more of the same, or real change.”

Although the state superintendent is a nonpartisan office — and party affiliations do not appear on the ballot — Shaw managed to consolidate the Republican vote, which put her on top for the primary, said Republican political consultant Rob Stutzman.

A second Republican candidate, Gus Mattammal, finished far behind her, with 2.4% of the vote.

It’s “not that surprising that Shaw consolidated the GOP vote,” Stutzman said. “She was endorsed by the state party and appeared with a school board member ballot title, which fits the race. CTA successfully elevated Barrera and they’ll have to spend some money to ensure Democrats understand he’s their candidate for November, since party affiliations don’t appear on the ballot for this office.”

Positioned in a runoff against one Democrat — in a state where Democrats dominate — makes for a challenging campaign for Shaw.

“Tonight is not the finish line,” Shaw said. “It’s the beginning of the final stretch.”

Barrera, besides his work as a longtime public official, has been a senior aide to current state Supt. Tony Thurmond. Thurmond could not run again because of term limits and instead mounted an unsuccessful campaign for governor.

The state superintendent has limited authority over school districts, which are locally managed. The officeholder instead manages the California Department of Education. This agency guides local school districts and also provides partial oversight. The state superintendent also typically takes advantage of the bully pulpit on education issues.

The office has an uncertain future because Gov. Gavin Newsom is pushing a proposal to reimagine the office and redistribute some of its duties.