Lentz and Grant win at-large seats on school board race after ranked-choice runoff

Jun. 15—Sarah Lentz and Benjamin Grant were declared the winners of two at-large seats on the Portland school board after a ranked-choice runoff Wednesday morning.

Sarah Brydon won the District 5 seat.

The first round of vote counting Tuesday night showed Lentz with 35.9 percent of the vote and Grant with 24.6 percent, leading the pack in the at-large race. Stacey Hang was in third place with 14 percent.

After the run-off Wednesday, Lentz had 55.3 percent and Grant had 55.7 percent.

Sarah Brydon collected a commanding 44.5 percent of the vote Tuesday night in the District 5 race. The next highest vote-getter was Joshua Haefele, with 19.4 percent. After the run-off, Brydon had 68.8 percent.

All three winning candidates were endorsed by Progressive Portland, a local activist group that advocates for progressive policies and by the all volunteer group Equity in Portland Schools.

After Lentz watched the retabulation of votes at City Hall Wednesday morning she said she's excited to join the board and wants to work with members to keep equity as a priority of the board and the district.

Lentz, 40, is a nonprofit manager and although she doesn't work in education anymore, a significant amount of her nonprofit career prior to her current position was education focused. "Working with young people has always really resonated with me," said Lentz, whose child attends a city elementary school.

Lentz said that as school board member she wants to focus on recruiting and retaining educators of color, growing the district's pre-Kindergarten program and uplifting students from marginalized groups.

Grant, who could not attend the runoff tabulation, said when reached afterward that he is also eager to get started. "There is a steep learning curve," he said. "As a candidate you have ideas but now I have a lot to learn."

Grant said Wednesday morning that he had already heard from Superintendent Xavier Botana that the district is considering how to use federal COVID-19 funds and he's ready to dive into that decision making process.

Grant, 44, is an attorney and the former chair of the Maine chapter of the Democratic National Committee. Grant ran on a platform of closing the achievement gap, reducing the school district population decline and increasing school board transparency and accountability. Grant has two children in Portland schools.

After being declared winner of the District Five school board seat, Brydon said she was ready to get to work.

"I'm both overwhelmed and humbled by the amount of support I got," she said. Brydon said she heard a lot of concerns from voters about student safety and gun violence. She said she wants to respond to those concerns by educating families about secure gun storage.

Brydon, 43, said in an earlier interview with the Press Herald that although she has had a great experience with the school district since her children, now rising second-graders, started at Portland schools, there is always room for improvement. Brydon ran on a platform of improving school board transparency and giving parents and community members more opportunities to voice their opinions and concerns. Brydon grew up in Portland, went to city schools from elementary through high school and is now a compliance analyst.

The city conducted ranked-choice runoffs Wednesday morning because none of the candidates won outright by getting 50 percent of the vote in the first round of counting Tuesday night.

In the ranked-choice voting system, voters are allowed to choose multiple candidates in order of preference.

Runoffs are triggered when no candidate receives a majority — more than 50 percent — of the vote, as was the case in both the at-large and District Five races. In ranked-choice runoffs, the candidate with the fewest votes is eliminated and that candidate's voters' ballots are redistributed to their second-choice picks. That process continues until a candidate has a clear majority of the vote.

Runoff tabulations took place in Portland City Hall's State of the Maine Room, an elegant space with wide windows framed with golden-yellow curtains, hardwood floors and off-white walls with intricate molding. At 10 a.m. a small group of mostly reporters, photographers, city officials and candidates gathered to hear the results. Lentz and Brydon, who both attended the ranked-choice tabulation, clapped and cheered each other on when the city announced the results.

Portland saw around a 14 percent voter turnout on Tuesday, with 8,521 voters casting ballots out of 62,632 total registered voters.

A total of 12 candidates put their names forward to fill the seats — seven sought one of two vacant at-large seats and five ran to represent District Five, which includes North Deering, part of Deering Center and Riverton, and eight of the district's 17 schools.

Candidates who ran for the at-large seats are Lentz, Grant, Richard Ward, Stacey Hang, Stephanie Albert, Kimberly Mancini and Amber Schertz. The candidates who ran to represent District Five are Brydon, Haefele, Lou Viola, Barbara Goglin and Elizabeth-Capone Newton.

The winners will finish the terms of three former school board members who stepped down midterm. The at-large winners will serve until November 2022 in place of Anna Trevorrow and Roberto Rodriguez, who left their posts in November after winning City Council seats. The District Five winner will serve until November 2023, replacing Jeff Irish, who resigned in October.