Incumbents Hold Off Challengers in Community College Board Race

"Meet the new boss. Same as the old boss."

The Who sang it years ago. Voters re-created it Tuesday night.

Voters in San Mateo County had the chance to put together a new San Mateo County Community College District Board Tuesday night. Instead, they chose to keep the staus quo.

Current Board members Dave Mandelkern, Patricia Miljanich and Karen Schwarz - whose terms were expiring - took early leads in their race for re-election against three other candidates. Those leads never changed, as all three were re-elected with at least 20% of the vote. 

Mandelkern is the current vice-president and clerk. He was elected to the Board in 2003, and served as president in 2006.

Miljanich was elected to the Board in 1995, and has twice served as president.

Schwarz was also elected in 1995, and has been Board President four times.

Six candidates - including incumbents Mandelkern, Miljanich and Schwarz, Jamie Diaz, Joe Ross and Michael G. Stogner - ran to fill the three open seats on the Board, which oversees the College of San Mateo, Canada College in Redwood City and Skyline College in San Bruno. It is one of the largest community college districts in the State of California.

Five Board members are elected at-large by County voters for four-year terms and one elected by students for a one-year term. Three of the five Board members were up for election this year. The other two members of the Board - whose terms do not expire until 2013 - are Richard Holober and Helen Hausman. Holober is the current president.

Here are the final vote tallies: