Was race a big issue in too-close-to-call Madison School Board election?

Pat Schnieder:

The election night parties ran late Tuesday night at The Fountain bar downtown and Badger Bowl on the south side as supporters of Madison School Board candidates Dean Loumos and Wayne Strong waited for the results in what turned out to be a very tight race.

There was a good-sized, lively crowd at each of the parties making plenty of noise, but one thing I couldn't help but notice is that the Fountain crowd was predominately white, like Loumos, and the Badger Bowl crowd was predominately African-American, like Strong.

The significance of that is up for debate, but this much is clear: Race was very much an issue in this School Board election. And candidates of every stripe identified the embarrassing race-based achievement gap as the most pressing issue facing the district.

The results of the Seat 3 match-up between Loumos and Strong won't be known until next week. Loumos held a 279-vote margin with all wards reporting early Wednesday, but Dane County Clerk Scott McDonell told the Wisconsin State Journal that there were potentially hundreds of absentee ballots yet to be counted.

Much more on the 2013 Madison School Board election, here.

Posted by Jim Zellmer at April 4, 2013 1:31 AM
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