Following Tuesday’s California primary election, Dana Eaton appears to be headed for victory as Contra Costa County’s next school superintendent, according to unofficial election results.
Of the 174,243 ballots cast in the race for county superintendent of schools, Eaton — the current superintendent for Brentwood Union School District — received 99,939 votes (73.44% of those who did cast ballots), while challenger and Antioch Unified Board of Trustees President Jag Lathan earned 36,139 votes (26.56% of ballots cast).
Eaton is expected to succeed Superintendent Lynn Mackey, who announced her retirement after serving in the role since 2018.
The county superintendent oversees the Contra Costa County Office of Education, which provides support and oversight to 18 school districts and serves one of the largest public school populations in California.
Voters were able to cast their vote at many voting and polling sites across the county (and state), as well as mailing in their votes. What is often seen in election primaries, only 174,243 of the 731,497 registered voters in Contra Costa County (23.82%) actually casts ballots.
San Ramon resident Monica Bender said although she doesn’t have any kids currently in the public school system, she voted for Eaton because he currently serves as a school superintendent. The longtime administrator has served Brentwood schools for 13 years and before that, he was superintendent for the Jefferson Elementary School District in San Joaquin County.
“He’s already a superintendent, so I guess I trusted what he had to say,” Bender said. “I think I wasn’t very thrilled with what the other candidate said [in the candidate booklet].”
Conversely, Chris Agnew — also from San Ramon — said he voted for Lathan because he didn’t want to vote for someone who already had a superintendent position.
However, like Bender, Steve Martinez and Katelyn Chew (cities unavailable) said they also based their decisions on Eaton’s current position.
“I think out of the candidates that were represented, [Eaton] was the only one that aligned with my political affiliation,” Chew said. “I just preferred to vote for someone who would uphold the same values as me.”
Official results for the June 2 election will not be finalized until election officials process remaining mail and provisional ballots. According to California election procedures, counties must complete a full count and certify their results within approximately 30 days of election day.
