Early voting begins today.
Early voting begins today for five candidates seeking two spots on the Richardson ISD school board. Lake Highlands residents will see only the at-large District 6 hopefuls on their ballot, since RISD shifted to 5-2 voting in 2019.
Incumbent Eric Eager first ran unsuccessfully against Karen Clardy, then became a trustee in 2020 when Kris Oliver resigned. He is now seeking his third term. He has a background in accounting and works as a tech entrepreneur with an analytics software company. He and wife Brenna have two grown sons.
“As an entrepreneur, I’m used to dealing with no money,” Eager joked as he explained working to find alternate funding sources for district projects when money was tight during Covid. “I’ve learned to get creative.”
Blake Sawyer is a former Apple engineer and certified forensics video analyst working in the software industry. He ran unsuccessfully against Chris Poteet in 2021 and Eric Eager in 2023. He and wife Kristin have three children in RISD schools — one in elementary, one in high school and one in junior high (only students in the Lake Highlands feeder pattern have shifted to the middle school format thus far).
“I think having kids in so many different phases of life and development allows me to see the work we need to do for all our kids in the district,” he told me in 2023. “Also, having a (young child) in the district means I will be here for a while and want to advocate for everyone along the way.”
Euan Blackman, Nazlee Burney and Luis Fernando Rojas are running to replace Debbie Renteria in District 3, which was created as a majority-minority “opportunity district” and generally runs between Coit Road and Jupiter, between LBJ and Belt Line. Only residents of that district may vote in that race.
Early voting continues until April 28 at the Audelia Road Library and other locations. May 2 is Election Day.
