DeSantis appointee wins Miami-Dade school board seat, securing conservative majority
The Miami-Dade school board will maintain its conservative majority, as incumbent Mary Blanco won her seat in District 7 and former Democratic state representative Joe Geller won in District 3 in runoff elections on Tuesday.
The school board will be composed of five conservative-leaning members, and four members who tend to vote in line with Democratic policies and values.
Incumbent Mary Blanco, who was appointed to the board by Governor DeSantis in 2023, won with 68 percent of the vote in District 7. Her opponent Max Tuchman received 32 percent of the vote.
In District 3, Joe Geller will represent communities from Miami Beach and on the mainland from Aventura down to parts of Coconut Grove along the bay. He won with 55 percent of the vote. His opponent Martin Karp received 45 percent.
Geller said he is glad to have prevailed and is excited to address everything from the amount of money the state allocates to the District for education to ensuring historically accurate information is taught in classrooms.
“There was an awful lot of money thrown against me, but ultimately the outcome was not a reflection on me but a reflection on the voters. They want someone to stand up to core principals of education,” said Geller on election night.
Although party affiliations were not printed on the ballot, school board races have become increasingly politicized as policies from Tallahassee are trickling down to local school boards and there are stark differences in priorities between Democrats and Republicans— including opinions on private school vouchers, social studies curriculum and religious chaplains in schools.
At the same time, average voters are increasingly disengaged with the school board, and many showed up to their local precinct today without knowing who they would be voting for, or what the function of the school board is, which is to set policy for the school district.
Mary Blanco, a guidance counselor at Our Lady of Lourdes Academy, ran as a conservative member with a platform emphasizing addressing mental health and fighting for parental rights to regain her seat in District 7, which encompasses Kendall to west Kendall and south to Homestead and Florida City.
Her opponent Max Tuchman, an entrepreneur and former executive director of Teach for America in Miami-Dade, appealed to Democratic voters concerned with the conservative leanings of the school board and education system in Florida. She ran with investing in early childhood education at the core of her agenda.
Joe Geller is a lawyer and former Democratic state representative. He was the preferred candidate in District 3 of the United Teachers of Dade, the teachers union. Geller tried to cast his opponent Martin Karp as an ultra-conservative supporter of Donald Trump.
Karp, who invested around $1.7 million in his own campaign, is the dean of academic affairs and community engagement for a consortium of private schools, and said he wanted to emphasize basic skills, increase teacher pay, and expand after-school programs.
During his previous tenure on the school board, an Inspector General’s report detailed lax oversight of some after-school programs run by a Jewish center with connections to Karp.
Karp said he would focus on non-partisan issues, but has been endorsed by conservatives including school board member Roberto Alonso.
Voters also struck down Amendment 1, a measure that would have made school board races partisan. Only 58 percent of voters approved Amendment 1, not the 60 percent that is required to pass an amendment.
The United Teachers of Dade, the teachers union, commended this victory. “Today, the people of Florida have sent a clear and resounding message that our classrooms should remain spaces for learning, not political battlegrounds,” said Karla Hernandez-Mats in a statement.
This story was originally published November 5, 2024 at 8:52 PM.
