Harlander, Loebbaka winning race for Tam high schools board

Incumbents Leslie Harlander and Karen Loebbaka appear to have come out on top in the five-way race for two seats on the Tamalpais Union High School District board of trustees.

As of Nov. 4, Harlander had received 19,605 votes in the Nov. 3 pick-two election, earning support on 39.5 percent of ballots cast. Loebbaka had 17,824 votes, earning support on about 35.9 percent of ballots.

They were trailed by challengers Brandon Johnson, who had earned 20.7 percent of the vote; Tiffany McElroy at 20.1 percent; and Mandy Downing at 14.7 percent.

The Marin Elections Department is still counting more than 50,000 vote-by-mail and provisional ballots countywide — about a third of all ballots cast — with turnout expected to be about 90 percent. Totals will be updated by 5 p.m. Wednesdays and Fridays beginning Nov. 6.

Harlander, 65, is a former nurse who now works as a project manager for engineering and Superfund sites, was first elected to the board in 2015 and has a son who graduated from Tamalpais High School.

Loebbaka, 57, was appointed to the board in August 2019, beating out a handful of other applicants. The mother of two recent Redwood High School graduates, Loebbaka has previously served on the district’s fiscal advisory committee, chaired the successful Measure J parcel-tax campaign in 2018 and has served as president of the Redwood High School Foundation.