Longtime school board member Susan Duval fell short by three votes against newcomer Kara Champion for the District 5 race, setting the two up for a face-off in the November general election.
Duval received 13,714 votes (38.95%), while Champion got 13,717 (38.96%).
Amanda Cunningham-Rud, the third candidate, received 7,781 votes (22.10%).
Champion out-fundraised Duval by nearly $30,000, receiving contributions from various individuals as well as real estate companies that funded the two other candidates on the conservative slate on the ballot.
Duval funded about $2,000 to her own campaign.
Duval, 79, is a registered Democrat and was first elected to the District 5 seat in 2014. She started teaching in Hernando County schools in 1969 and served as the principal of Springstead High School for 11 years before retiring and making her run for the school board.
Champion, 28, is the daughter of Hernando County Commissioner Steve Champion. Her family’s business, American Gun & Pawn, is listed as her primary source of income.
In the District 1 race, Dana Pearce, a veteran public school educator, won against incumbent Mark C. Johnson with 52.2% of the vote.
Johnson, a staunch opponent of Diversity Equity and Inclusion (DEI) and Critical Race Theory, was listed among a number of state and local candidates who signed a pledge to parental rights on the Moms for Liberty website.
Though school board races are nonpartisan, culture war issues have made Florida public schools a battleground for political interests in recent years.
Pearce recently retired from Springstead High School, where she served as principal for seven years. She told WUSF previously at a candidate forum that she is "not about politics, headlines or special interests."
In the District 3 race, incumbent Shannon Rodriguez won with 65.3% of the vote against her opponent Luciano Stefan Vignali.
Rodriguez was backed by the conservative group Moms for Liberty when she was first elected to the board in 2022 and came under fire for reporting a school teacher to the Florida Department of Education in 2023 for showing a Disney movie featuring a gay character.
Voter turnout for primary elections in Hernando County was 27.7%
Complete results from the Hernando County Supervisor of Elections.
