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In her first run for political office, Euna Anderson received almost 20 percent of the vote, finishing third in the three-way District 7 school board race on March 3. Although she missed the May runoff, the voters who supported her may be key to who wins between the remaining candidates, Board President Richard Vladovic and challenger Lydia Gutierrez, who were only separated by five percentage points.

For now, Anderson said she is not endorsing either candidate but hasn’t ruled it out.

“I think it’s going to be close. It’s going to be a tough runoff,” Anderson said in a phone interview with LA School Report.

Anderson, an early education principal at LA Unified, said she entered the race hoping to bring an increased focus on early ed.

“I will see who speaks for early ed and who is inclusive with early ed in their platform,” Anderson said when asked if she will endorse a candidate. “You know that we have less than 15,000 kids in early ed centers [at LAUSD], and I would like to see that increased.”

Anderson is an African-American, Vladovic a caucasian and Gutierrez a Latina. At a glance it could appear that race played a role in support. But Anderson said she didn’t think that is how it played out.

“I don’t think it had anything to do with race, per se. Even people who had seen me at the forum and would stop me at the grocery store or the mall, they would say, ‘You’re the lady who talked about early ed.’ So I don’t think it had anything to do with it necessarily,” she said. “I’m sure some people because I was black voted for me, but not as a whole.”

Anderson said she hasn’t ruled out running for the board again, but she is interested in continuing to be a public advocate for early education and is proud of the level of support she received.

“I was running against two professional politicians — and I do call them politicians — so I don’t feel badly. I thought 20 percent was impressive,” she said.