Joseph Zuniga
DU student Damian Pereson-Estrada fell short Tuesday, April 1st, in his first run for elected office.
In the six-person race for three open seats in the Elmwood Park School board, Pereson-Estrada finished fourth place. He was 329 votes away from taking office.
“It’s been a fun journey, I liked it,” he said. “I don’t know if I would’ve done anything differently.”
Over the past few months, Pereson-Estrada had campaigned by going door-to-door, attended events such as the Elmwood Park Candidate Forum, and showed up to school board meetings. He wanted to make sure he was known.
In the end, Pereson-Estrada does believe that a lot of people know and recognize him now. He believes that if the voters were more informed about candidates and relied less on endorsement recognition, then the outcome could’ve been a lot more different.
“I feel like I was the most qualified candidate,” he said. “I think that if the public was more informed about these candidates, even with their endorsements, that they wouldn’t have won.”
Pereson-Estrada ran for Elmwood Park School Board because he believed, as an Elmwood Park High School alum, that the school could have improved its safety, staff retention, have better Hispanic representation, and academic test scores.
Low Hispanic representation is still a big concern for Pereson-Estrada. In 2024, 59% of EPHS students were Hispanic and during that time there was only one Hispanic member on the board, Jonathan Rivera. However, Rivera had dropped out of reelection and after the 2025 election, the school board now has zero Hispanic representation.
Pereson-Estrada stated he is going to run for school board again in 2027 when there are four seats up for grabs. He still will aim to become a strong Hispanic presence on the school board when he runs again in two years.
jzuniga@my.dom.edu
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