EAST LANSING - Democratic candidates for the Michigan State University Board of Trustees have edged out their Republican counterparts, according to unofficial election results.

Brianna Scott led all candidates with 24% of the vote, followed by Kelly Tebay at 23.47%. Republicans Mike Miller and Dave Dutch had 23.19% and 22.72%, respectively. That's according to the Michigan Secretary of State's website, which had unofficial results for all Michigan counties but Wayne County at the time of publication.

Both Scott and Tebay held significant leads over their opponents in Wayne County with 1,104 of 1,109 precincts reporting unofficial results. Scott has nearly 36% of Wayne County voters so far, with Tebay at about 32%, Miller at 13.5% and Dutch at 13%.

Scottis an MSU graduate who went on become the first African American assistant prosecutor in the Muskegon County Prosecutor's Office. She now runs her own law firm, Brianna T. Scott & Associates, PLLC, in Muskegon.

Scott thanked her supporters in a statement for the "opportunity to do my part as a Trustee of Michigan State University.

"I look forward to serving and restoring the trust, integrity and pride back to MSU," she continued.

Tebayearned both bachelor's and master's degrees from MSU. She works as the director of corporate relations for the United Way for Southeastern Michigan.

"My first priority is making sure we’re doing everything the way we should be in terms of the fallout of Larry Nassar," Tebay said, referring to the former MSU doctor who sexually assaulted hundreds of women. She added that she also considers campus safety to be a key issue for the board to address.

Republican trustees Mitch Lyons and Board Chair Brian Breslin opted not to run for reelection. Lyons announced his decision in January at the end of a statement calling for Lou Anna Simon to step down as president.

Both Breslin and Lyons were elected to the MSU board in 2010. Breslin became its chair in 2017, succeeding Joel Ferguson, who had served in the role since 2007.

The board has been split evenly among Republicans and Democrats but will swing 6-2 in favor of the Democrats come January.

In June, Trustee Brian Mosallam attempted to put interim President John Engler's job up for a vote. The motion failed with only Dianne Byrum supporting him.

Byrum said Wednesday morning she doesn't expect a similar motion to come up early next year and that members will be focused first and foremost on finding a new president.

"If we were to make a change in the presidency in the near future — early next year — I believe that would be detrimental to the presidential search and probably derail it," Byrum said.

Mosallam wrote an email saying he wouldn't be making a comment on the results of the race Wednesday.

Tebay said that, so long as MSU is on track to have a new president by the middle of 2019, she's not in favor of putting MSU through "further chaos" by removing Engler.

"I don’t want to rush (the search committee), but, as a community, we need to move forward, and a new president is needed as soon as possible."

The current iteration of the MSU Board of Trustees will host its final public meeting on December 14.

Related:

U-M board incumbents ousted, Democrats take 2 board seats

Women's work is in the state House as mid-Michigan voters elect 5 new female reps

Local election results for Michigan, including Lansing, Ingham, Eaton and Clinton counties

Contact RJ Wolcott at (517) 377-1026 or rwolcott@lsj.com. Follow him on Twitter @wolcottr.