DeSantis endorsed 30 school board candidates across Florida. They did very well

Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis’ unusually wide-ranging effort to endorse 30 candidates in nonpartisan school board races was largely successful on Tuesday night, underscoring how the governor is trying to consolidate and grow his political influence through education.

Of the 30 conservative candidates backed by DeSantis, 19 won their elections outright, five lost and six are gearing up for runoff elections in November. Many of the races were hotly contested, and the impact of the DeSantis endorsements was most pronounced in Miami-Dade and Sarasota counties, where the governor’s candidates swept key seats up for election.

The victories — in historically sleepy, nonpartisan races — will solidify support for the type of hyper-conservative education policies DeSantis has been pushing throughout the state, particularly on topics of race and gender identity.

DeSantis, who is seeking reelection and is widely believed to be eyeing a run for the White House, only endorsed candidates that he said were committed to what the governor calls the “DeSantis Education Agenda.” The policy priorities in the agenda are broad, but DeSantis says they are meant to give parents confidence that they can send their children to school “without the threat of woke indoctrination” — a model that DeSantis is trying to get other states to follow.

The priorities include rejecting the teaching of what DeSantis calls “critical race theory” and “woke gender ideology,” two concepts that have become catch-all phrases for what conservatives view as objectionable lessons on race and gender identity. The governor also wants schools to put more emphasis on civics education and increasing teacher pay.

READ MORE: Teachers alarmed by state’s infusing religion, downplaying race in civics education.

“I made my commitment to DeSantis and the entire community: We are going to bring our parents back,” Miami-Dade School Board candidate Roberto Alonso, who won by a wide margin, said during a celebration party Tuesday night at Paraiso Tropical in Hialeah. “We are going to make sure that the indoctrination comes to an end and that we focus on education.”

Some candidates were defeated

While the vast majority of the DeSantis-endorsed candidates won their races, the governor’s backed candidates also faced some losses.

In Flagler County, incumbent school board member Jill Woolbright narrowly lost her reelection bid. Weeks before the election, Woolbright made headlines after saying she was in “satanic warfare” against “evil spirits” in the school district.

In Alachua County, Mildred Russell, who was appointed to the school board by the governor as he was feuding with the school district over its COVID mask mandate, lost her election.

And in Volusia County, a candidate who last year came under fire for advancing conspiracy theories about the trafficking of children, was also defeated.

READ MORE: Donald Trump backed two Miami-Dade Republicans in Tuesday’s elections. How did they do?

Six other DeSantis-backed candidates are in runoff elections in Pasco, Manatee, Volusia, Lee and Hendry counties. To win Tuesday’s primary, school board candidates had to win 50% of the vote, plus one additional vote, or face a runoff on Nov. 8.

Ahead of the election, DeSantis acknowledged that the absence of primaries for him and other Republican members of the Cabinet allowed them to put a focus on school board races.

“This is new, particularly for Republicans, because particularly, you know, that had basically been unions who would back candidates and that would be it. And so now I think more parents are interested, some of our voters are interested,” DeSantis told reporters in Tallahassee on Tuesday after a Cabinet meeting.

Apparent impact on turnout

The argument that voter turnout increased in school board races has some truth to it. In Miami-Dade County, for example, there were an average of 30,000 votes cast in school board primary elections this midterm election compared to an average of 25,000 in the primary races of the 2018 midterm election.

The difference in turnout could have also been influenced by the heavy involvement the governor’s team had in the races. Not only did DeSantis endorse the candidates, Lt. Gov. Jeanette Nuñez heavily campaigned for Monica Colucci.

Colucci, a teacher at Everglades K-8 Center in Westchester who worked in the governor’s executive office from February 2019 to August 2020 as the special assistant to Nuñez, won her race to unseat longtime incumbent Marta Pérez, who was also viewed as a conservative.

Nuñez’s aligned political committee, Jobs for Prosperity for Florida, paid for political mail advertisements to promote Colucci’s candidacy and contributed $1,000 to Colucci’s campaign, according to campaign finance records. Nuñez also appeared on television ads with Colucci.

Helen Aguirre Ferré, the executive director of the Republican Party of Florida, congratulated Colucci and Alonso, saying “political machines won’t win against an engaged … community.”

Christina Pushaw, the rapid response director for the governor’s reelection campaign, boasted about the outcome of the Sarasota School Board races. She said the victories there were crucial for conservatives.

“Sarasota School Board had a 3-2 liberal majority,” Pushaw tweeted. “Today @RonDeSantisFL endorsed candidates won and flipped the school board so it’s now 4-1 anti wokes indoctrination and pro parental rights.”

Pushaw also argued that the election results overall were indicative of “The Parents Revolution.”

Miami Herald Staff Writer Sommer Brugal contributed to this report.

This story was originally published August 24, 2022 at 1:37 PM.