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Website for UTLA’s Political Action Committee
The teachers union’s entire strategy for defeating District 2 incumbent Monica Garcia is predicated on the race going to a runoff. They’ve spent much of their money attacking her record, and if — as most insiders are predicting — Garcia fails to reach the 50 percent threshold required to avoid a runoff, UTLA has already endorsed all of Garcia’s possible opponents (except Isabel Vazquez) and can begin its general election campaign without any delay.
The union’s decision will be harder in District 6, where UTLA has endorsed multiple candidates but hasn’t yet spent any money supporting them. If front-runner Antonio Sanchez doesn’t reach 50 percent, then UTLA will have to decide whether to concede the race to a candidate who’s been endorsed by and received gobs of money from the Coalition for School Reform — and keep focus on defeating Garcia in District 2 — or go through the awkward process of un-endorsing Sanchez and throwing its weight behind Sanchez’s likely opponent, Monica Ratliff, who is, after all, a teacher and member of UTLA’s House of Representatives and has also already been endorsed by the union.
Previous posts: Insider Predictions: Two Runoffs & A “Jump Ball”; UTLA Focus: Defend Zimmer, Defeat Garcia; What’s UTLA Going to Do With Its Money?; UTLA Board Keeps Options Open