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San Bernardino County · Statewide General Election

County Superintendent of Schools — San Bernardino County

Draft candidate list — early preview until the state’s official list publishes on August 27, 2026.

This is one contest. Enter your address to see every race on your November ballot, and keep track of your picks.

On the ballot

Nonpartisan head of the county office of education.

Cali Binks led the June 2 primary with 38.8% and Alejandro "Alex" Vara took 31.3%; neither cleared a majority, so the two meet again on November 3. This is a nonpartisan countywide office.

The county superintendent runs the San Bernardino County Superintendent of Schools office, serving the largest county by area in the contiguous United States. That office does not run your local school district — it oversees district budgets and can intervene when one is in financial trouble, runs county-wide programs including special education and juvenile court schools, and provides services individual districts are too small to run alone.

We could not find substantive coverage of either candidate, which is itself the most important thing to know before you vote here. This is a countywide office with real budget authority over dozens of districts, and the public record available to us describes only the primary result. Ask your local district what its relationship with the county office is like — that is likely to tell you more than anything published about this race.

Cali Binks

Nonpartisan, who led the June primary with 38.8% of the vote. Neither candidate reported campaign finance to the state database we track, and no outlet we cite describes her background or her plans for the office.

Strengths

She led a multi-candidate field in the June primary.

Trade-offs

No campaign-finance data and no published record of her background are available to us.

Keep in mind

Coverage surfaced no biographical or platform detail about her at all. That gap is what was available to us on 2026-08-10, and it applies equally to her opponent — it is not a comment on either candidacy.

Alejandro "Alex" Vara

Nonpartisan, who advanced with 31.3% of the June vote. Neither candidate reported campaign finance to the state database we track, and no outlet we cite describes his background or his plans for the office.

Strengths

He held the leading candidate under 40% and forced a November runoff.

Trade-offs

No campaign-finance data and no published record of his background are available to us.

Keep in mind

Coverage surfaced no biographical or platform detail about him at all. That gap is what was available to us on 2026-08-10, and it applies equally to his opponent — it is not a comment on either candidacy.

June 2 primary — how they advanced

Cali Binks38.8% · 128,397 votes
Alejandro "Alex" Vara31.3% · 103,497 votes
Source review: Strong (86/100) · 2 cited sources

Official records anchor this contest, with a narrow source base.

Last updated July 30, 2026.