Among the most crowded races in Tuesday’s election were for school boards. Democratic candidates had a strong showing, holding off a teachers-union-endorsed, Republican challenger in Allentown and unseating two Republican incumbents in Southern Lehigh.

Here’s a look at the most competitive of those races. Preliminary results are below and will update as returns finalize.

Allentown

Seven candidates ran for four, four-year terms on the Allentown School Board.

Evette D’Amore, Cereta Johnson and Denzel Morris ran as Democrats. Tom Houck, Robert E Smith Jr. and David Zimmerman secured Republican nominations. Republican Dianne Michels cross-filed and was on the ballot for both parties.

Nick Nicholoff, a Democrat, ran to finish out the two-year term created by the July resignation of Daysell Ramirez. Smith also challenged in that race.

D’Amore and Smith earned endorsements from the Allentown teachers union.

Based on Tuesday’s results, the school board will see an influx of new directors with diverse experiences.

D’Amore is an office manager and advocate for students with special needs. Johnson manages a child care and early childhood education center. Morris is a software engineer, and Michels is a licensed professional counselor with special education teaching experience.

Southern Lehigh

Democrats Kimberly Jaramillo, Luis Melecio, Josh Rager and Chris Sykora challenged Republicans Paul Deebel, Stephen Maund and Christopher Wayock for four open school board seats. Jaramillo was cross-filed and appeared on both ballots. Maund and Wayock are incumbents.

Jaramillo, Melecio, Rager and Sykora aligned their campaigns, identifying increased transparency and improved teacher retention as key issues. With all precincts reporting as of 11 p.m., the slate’s lowest vote earner was running 527 votes ahead of Maund, the best-performing Republican candidate.

The current school board has been mired in infighting as the district has navigated investigations estimated to have cost nearly $200,000 in legal bills and reached costly separation agreements with its former superintendent and human resources director.

Parkland

Six candidates ran for four, four-year terms on the Parkland School Board.

Two candidates — Alyssa Beckwith and incumbent David Hein — appeared as both Democratic and Republican candidates, having earned enough votes from both parties in the May 20 primary. Beckwith is a registered Democrat; Hein is registered Republican.

Rounding out the ballot were Democrats Matthew Weimann and Jon Macklin, and Republicans George Rivera and David Caruth.

Caruth, who failed to make the primary ballot due to a petition challenge, was the top write-in vote getter in the May 20 Republican primary, and earned a spot on the November ballot after Republican Patrick Foose dropped out of the race to run for Upper Macungie Township supervisor.

Candidates endorsed the district’s expansion plans, with voter forum discussion focusing on how to effectively provide oversight of contracts.

Hein held on to his seat and is headed for a fourth term on the board. His new colleagues will include Beckwith, who supports clinical trials at Johnson & Johnson; Weimann, a teacher in the East Penn School District; and Macklin, a stay-at-home dad who previously worked in health insurance.

East Penn

Seven candidates sought four seats on the East Penn School Board, with incumbents Michael Felegy and William Whitney challenged by Paul Barbehenn, Alicia Du Plooy, Rita Perez, Christine Price and Melissa Stiavelli.

Barbehenn, Du Plooy and Felegy appeared on the ballot as Republicans. Perez, Price and Stiavelli ran as Democrats. Whitney appeared as a candidate for both parties, having won enough votes in the May 20 primaries.

The district’s proposed middle-school realignment and high school renovation plans drew skepticism from the candidates with voter forum discussion centering on project costs and taxpayer burden.

Whitney earned a second term on the board. Joining him will be Price, the director for the Women’s Center and the LGBTQ+ Resource Center at Kutztown University; Stiavelli, a former teacher who is now a managing director of an electronics company; and Perez, who worked as a teacher and principal before moving into district-level and state-level educational leadership roles.

Other contested school board races