Pasadena Unified Board Races Get October 5 Candidate Forum as Three Seats Head to Ballot

Seven groups, including the Blair Middle and High School PTSA and the League of Women Voters Pasadena Area, announced they co-sponsor a Pasadena Unified School District Board of Education candidate forum at 6:30 p.m. Monday, October 5.

The forum comes ahead of the Tuesday, Nov. 3, general election, in which the district called for four board seats, in sub-districts 1, 3, 5 and 7, each for a four-year term. Only three of those races will be on the ballot. Incumbent Patrice Marshall McKenzie was the only candidate to qualify in District 5, so she will be appointed in lieu of election and the race will be canceled.

The forum will be held at the Pasadena Unified School District headquarters, livestreamed and offered with translation, according to the release. The co-sponsors are theMiddle middHigh School school PTSA, the PTA Council of Pasadena Unified School District, the League of Women Voters Pasadena Area, the Pasadena Education Network, the African American Parent Council, the Community Advisory Co,mmittee and Voces Unidas, organizers said in the release.

In District 1, incumbent Kimberly Kenne faces Felita R. Kealing. In District 3, incumbent Michelle Richardson Bailey faces Veronica Elias. In District 7, Cynthia Torres and Dennis J. McNamara are running for the seat held by Yarma Velázquez, who is not seeking reelection. The candidate field was complete as of Aug. 13.

Board members are elected by geographic sub-district, and candidates must live and be registered to vote in the sub-district they seek to represent. Each seat is decided by plurality, so the candidate with the most votes wins outright, with no runoff. The district serves Pasadena, Altadena and Sierra Madre, along with unincorporated county areas outside the Pasadena city limits.

Parent groups have co-hosted similar forums in past election years, including a 2022 forum at the Pasadena Unified School District Education Center moderated by the league and a 2024 forum on the two contested races held in the district’s board room.

Vote centers will be open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Election Day, Nov. 3, according to the district.

Monday, October 5, at 6:30 p.m., Pasadena Unified School District, 351 S. Hudson Avenue, Pasadena.