Ventura County · Statewide General Election
County Superintendent of Schools — Ventura 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
- Karen Sher
- Maggie Marschner
Nonpartisan head of the county office of education.
The incumbent lost in June. Karen Sher led the primary with 41.7% and Maggie Marschner took 33.0%, pushing sitting superintendent Cesar Morales into third and off the November ballot entirely. The two who advanced meet on November 3. This is a nonpartisan countywide office.
The county superintendent runs the Ventura County Office of Education. 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. It is one of the most consequential education jobs most voters have never heard of.
A sitting county superintendent finishing third is unusual and is the central fact of this race: whatever the county wanted, it was not continuity. Neither remaining candidate holds the office. Ask what you want from its two real powers — fiscal oversight of districts, and the county-run programs serving students no single district can serve alone — and note that both candidates now carry the burden of explaining what they would do differently.
Karen Sher
Nonpartisan, who led the June primary with 41.7% of the vote, finishing ahead of the sitting superintendent. Neither candidate reported campaign finance to the state database we track.
Strengths
She led a field that included an incumbent, which is a clear signal of support for change in the office.
Trade-offs
She led with 41.7%, short of a majority; and no campaign-finance data is available for comparison.
Keep in mind
Local coverage of this race records the upset and the result, but little about what either finalist would do with the office.
Maggie Marschner
Nonpartisan, who advanced with 33.0% of the June vote, also finishing ahead of the sitting superintendent. Neither candidate reported campaign finance to the state database we track.
Strengths
She too outpolled a sitting superintendent, so the case for change in this office does not rest on one candidate.
Trade-offs
She finished nearly nine points behind the leader, and no campaign-finance data is available for comparison.
Keep in mind
Local coverage of this race records the upset and the result, but little about what either finalist would do with the office.
June 2 primary — how they advanced
Source review: Strong (89/100) · 3 cited sources
Official records anchor this contest, with several source types checked for context.
- clerkrecorder.venturacounty.gov (opens in a new tab)Ventura County elections office — certified June 2, 2026 primary results
- vidanewspaper.com (opens in a new tab)Vida Newspaper — Ventura County primary election results
- ballotpedia.org (opens in a new tab)Ballotpedia — June 2026 California primary
Last updated August 10, 2026.