Lower Merion school board incumbents and their running mates win Democratic primary

A slate led by Lower Merion’s school board president and another incumbent prevailed in the Democratic primary Tuesday, after a contentious race that featured debate over antisemitism in the district and federal threats to public schools.

The four members of the Elect LMSD slate — school board president Kerry Sautner, member Anna Shurak and newcomers Juanita Kerber and Jennifer Rivera — were the top vote-getters among a nine-member field, each garnering between 7,800 and 8,400 votes.

“The community showed us today that we’ve earned their support, and we’re proud they’ve trusted us to advocate for our kids and our future,” Elect LMSD said in a statement early Wednesday morning. “This is just one chapter in an ongoing conversation with our neighbors, colleagues and friends about the values and priorities that matter most as prepare for the next vote in November.”

Among their challengers was Rich Lester, a Democrat who hadn’t won the local party’s endorsement and spent more than $70,000 of his own money, along with about $10,000 he fundraised, to run an independent campaign. He won 4,200 votes.

They also faced three members of a rival slate, Talia Nissim, Jacob Rudolph and Deena Pack, who had GOP backing but also appeared on the Democratic ballot and pledged to do more to combat antisemitism in Lower Merion schools.

Nissim, Rudolph and Pack, along with the fourth member of the Imagine Better LMSD slate, Omer Dekel, won the Republican primary and will appear on the November ballot.

The school board primary was unusually heated for Lower Merion, a heavily Democratic community where winners of the party’s primary are favored in November. Dissent over the school board’s response to antisemitism since the Oct. 7, 2023 attacks by Hamas on Israel and the Democratic Committee of Lower Merion and Narberth’s endorsement process fueled opposition to the incumbents and their slate. Sautner was briefly removed from the primary ballot over financial disclosure issues.

Some residents objected to the tenor of the race, including political mailers they considered misleading. Democrats criticized the local Republican committee for putting out a Democratic “sample ballot” that featured the GOP-backed candidates. The Democratic committee, meanwhile, faced backlash for a mailer that placed Trump heads next to those candidates’ names.

The Elect LMSD slate had pledged to protect public education and preserve diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives in the face of threats from President Donald Trump’s administration, and “political groups and misinformation campaigns” that it said were “working to divide our community.”

Lester, a businessman who had pledged to bring greater transparency and leadership to the district, congratulated the Elect LMSD slate in a statement late Tuesday, and said he hoped they would drive improvements “in our already strong school system and find ways to bridge the divides that exist in our community.”

“I am proud that my campaign brought greater awareness of the democratic process in our township and hopefully the lasting impact will be driving more informed dialogue and better decision-making from our voters,” he said.