Veteran school administrator George McKenna won his bid for a key seat on the Los Angeles Board of Education besting political newcomer Alex Johnson, according to unofficial results released Tuesday night.

With all precincts reporting, McKenna claimed just over 53% of the vote in the special runoff election that coincided with the first day of school in Los Angeles.

Provisional ballots must still be counted, but Johnson would have to make up a difference of nearly 2,000 votes in a low-turnout election in which fewer than one in 10 voters took part.

McKenna attributed his victory to hard-working supporters and to his own investment of a 50-year career in local education.

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