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Editor's Note: This story has been updated to reflect the latest figures from Friday, Nov. 11.
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Sathvik Nori, a commissioner on the San Mateo County Juvenile Justice Commission, is on track to become the youngest member of the Sequoia Union High School District Board of Trustees.
Candidates Nori and Amy Koo are leading the race to fill two empty seats on the board, for areas D and A, in semi-official results as of Wednesday.
The latest tallies for area A are leaning strongly in favor of Koo, who has 56.10% of the vote, a 970-vote lead over Suvarna Bhopale. In area D, Nori has so far claimed a 56.38% of the vote, versus Jo-Ann Byrne Sockolov’s 43.62%.
With a nearly 700-vote lead over his opponent, Nori is hoping to become the youngest trustee ever to serve on the board. As the only candidate who is a product of the district, he said he has a unique insider perspective of the problems facing teachers, students and their families. He graduated from Menlo-Atherton in 2021.
“I’m really pleased with how the initial results turned out,” Nori told the Pulse Wednesday afternoon. “It’s hard to tell because we don’t know how many votes are outstanding. But I'm confident in my lead.”
Sockolov, in a text to the Pulse Tuesday night, said she was “eager to see what the mail-in numbers from over the weekend, Monday and today will look like over the next few days.”
Nori told the Pulse Friday morning that she was "feeling confident" but that she would wait for all the results before making any conclusive statements. "I'm telling people it’s looking really good," she said.
Though still watching his own numbers, Nori said he’d already called both of the candidates for area A and congratulated Koo on her initial strong showing among voters. He said either would make a great addition to the school board, which was poised to become more diverse than ever.
“If the results hold, for the first time the SUHSD board will be majority-minority,” he said.
Nori said he was excited about the possibility of making history as the youngest trustee “by a long shot.” But, even more so, he said he was feeling grateful to his supporters and proud of having run a competitive campaign in a region where local races often go uncontested.
“I’m really hopeful to make some changes in the district to make sure that it truly serves all the students,” he said.
Nori has racked up a number of endorsements, including from Sen. Josh Becker and board of supervisors Carole Groom and David Canepa.
