Chicago Teachers Union poised to capture half of school board district seats, but loses president’s race

Despite being massively outspent, candidates backed by the Chicago Teachers Union won seven of 21 school board seats and were leading in three more — likely enough to throw up formidable opposition to classroom cuts, school closures and other measures that they see as contrary to their progressive agenda.The CTU’s candidate for board president, Hilario Dominguez, lost to Jessica Biggs. Candidates not backed by the CTU won nine of the remaining 10 seats, and a non-CTU candidate was leading in another race that was too close to call. A 10-member CTU bloc would be enough to give Biggs trouble.CTU’s biggest opponent in this race was Michael Sacks, billionaire and former advisor to Rahm Emanuel, and the political group Common Ground Collective, which Sacks put $6.8 million into over the past two months. Common Ground Collective only won three contested races, though the group endorsed an additional five unopposed candidates.Biggs took $1 million from Sacks, but was not formally endorsed by