Tony Thurmond is expected to be named State Superintendent, after his opponent, Marshall Tuck, conceded Saturday after the most expensive race in U.S. history.

Thurmond, who is a former Assemblymember from the East Bay, is leading in the ballot count by over 150,000 votes as of Friday, with about 2 million more to count.

“I want to thank the voters of California for electing me to serve the 6 million students of California,” Thurmond said in a statement. “I intend to be a champion of public schools and a Superintendent for all California students.”

The contest attracted more than $50 million in outside spending. It was the most expensive state superintendent election in U.S. history, according to the Associated Press.

Thurmond is to be named superintendent of public instruction, who serves as the state’s chief of public schools and provides education policy direction to local school districts.

“It has always been our shared mission to provide high quality and innovative educational opportunities to students in all school settings,” Amber Raskin, Founder and CEO, iLEAD Schools. “I am confident Mr. Thurmond shares this mission, and we at iLEAD look forward to working with him to continue providing unique opportunities to students across the State of California.”

The race for superintendent was closely contested, with Tuck holding a slight lead on election night — 50.6 percent of the vote to Thurmond’s 49.4 percent.

Thurmond slowly chipped away at Tuck’s lead in the provisional ballot count, similar to the local Santa Clarita races for Congress and Assembly.

“Given it has become clear that we are not going to win this campaign, I felt it was in the best interest of California’s children for me to concede now so that Assemblymember Thurmond has as much time as possible to plan to take over as State Superintendent,” said Tuck.

Although both candidates are Democrats, Thurmond pulled several high profile endorsements from Senator Kamala Harris and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi.

The result will not be official until all the votes are counted and certified by the Secretary of State in early December.

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