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Conservative anti-CRT candidates snag shocking victories in deep blue Houston school board races



Anti-critical race theory conservatives continued their impressive run on school board posts across the country over the weekend — this time snagging shocking victories in heavily Democratic Houston, Texas.

What are the details?

Two conservative candidates running for the Houston Independent School District's board ousted incumbent Democrats in runoff elections Saturday, the Houston Chronicle reported.

In one race, a local pastor named Kendall Baker edged out incumbent trustee Holly Maria Flynn Vilaseca, and in another, a former parent-teacher organization president, Bridget Wade, pulled off a victory against incumbent trustee Anne Sung.

Every seat on the nine-member board had previously been filled by a progressive, the Chronicle noted.

According to KHOU-TV, issues that have sparked nationwide debate in recent months — such as mask mandates and the teaching of critical race theory and other progressive ideologies in classrooms — played a major role in the elections.

One of the ousted incumbents, Sung, complained that the issues should not have been factors.

“Knocking on doors in District 7, it was pretty clear to me that the impression that voters have of public schools, if they don’t themselves have children in public schools, is informed by Fox News and national news coverage that has nothing to do with what our kids are being taught," Sung said, according to the Chronicle.

“The fear that kids are being taught critical race theory or taught that they are victims is completely opposite of what we’re doing in HISD schools,” she claimed.

But the newly elected trustee Wade said that parents are justifiably outraged at how their taxpayer money is being spent and are finally speaking up.

“People want to have a say in their public education as taxpayers and parents and families. People want to be active participants and be heard, and so I think it was people crying out to be heard. That was the foundation from which everything came,” he explained.

What else?

Houston is just the latest Democratic-majority community to experience a school board shake-up over the last several months.

In November, reports surfaced showing that backlash over mask mandates, critical race theory, and transgender-affirming policies in schools had resulted in sweeping changes in school boards across the country.

Newly-formed political action committee the 1776 Project PAC — whose aim is to elect conservative, "anti-CRT" candidates to public school boards nationwide — announced that it had won three-fourths of its 58 races across seven states on Election Day.

Axios covered the news by noting that anti-CRT candidates were "not just winning in Republican areas; several candidates won in solid blue counties: Montgomery County, Pennsylvania; Passaic County, New Jersey; and Johnson County, Kansas."

19-year-old routs incumbent in school board race after 'awful' COVID lockdowns ruined his senior year



A New Jersey high school graduate who had his senior year disrupted by "awful" COVID-19 shutdowns defeated an incumbent candidate in his local school board race this week.

What are the details?

Nicholas Seppy, a 19-year-old graduate of Egg Harbor Township High School, trounced his opponent, sitting board member Terre Alabarda, by about 18 percentage points in New Jersey's election on Tuesday.

Seppy reportedly garnered 59% support with 4,042 votes while Alabarda earned just 41% with 2,830 votes, according to Atlantic County's election results webpage.

In conversation with the College Fix, Seppy slammed the shutdowns as "awful" and said that he decided to run for a seat on the school board "out of a desire to serve in [his] community" and to "give parents a voice in the district."

The recent graduate made a similar statement to the Washington Examiner, telling the news outlet that he ran because he saw that "parents were not being listened to" and "wanted to give them a voice on behalf of their children."

He added that extensive school closures and experiments with distance learning had a negative effect on student morale.

"Hybrid education was not yielding the enthusiasm in students they thought it would," he said, specifically citing younger students who ended up missing "out on an entire year of education."

The Press of Atlantic City reported that after closing in March 2020 due to the pandemic, schools in Egg Harbor Township have been operating under either an entirely online or partially in-person instruction model for most of the 2020-2021 school year.

What else?

In an Instagram post announcing his win, Seppy said, "My passion for the community of Egg Harbor Township is entirely everlasting, I aspire to set a positive example for our district. EHT shall have an excellent reputation, in both our standard of education and our efficient process of our budget."

The aspiring politician, whose Instagram showcases patriotic posts and words of love for his country and community, has big plans for his school district.

He told the College Fix he intends to use his new position on the board to expand civics education and vocational training opportunities for students in the district.

Seppy's surprising victory is just one of many that occurred this week as a groundswell of new candidates fed up with the status quo won in local school board elections across the country.

Report: ‘Anti-CRT’ candidates are sweeping school boards across the country, even in heavily Democratic areas



Backlash over critical race theory being taught in public school classrooms has become a flashpoint in American politics over the last year — and now it is leading to widespread changes on school boards across the country.

What are the details?

A newly formed political action committee known as the 1776 Project PAC — which is focused on helping elect conservative, "anti-CRT" candidates to public school boards nationwide — won three-fourths of its 58 races across seven states on Tuesday, according to Axios.

The news outlet noted that supported candidates didn't only claim victory in Republican-controlled areas but in heavily Democratic areas, as well.

"Thirteen Pennsylvania school board candidates backed by the group won their races, along with 11 in Colorado, nine in Kansas, four in New Jersey, three in Virginia, and two each in Ohio and Minnesota," Axios reported.

"They're not just winning in Republican areas; several candidates won in solid blue counties: Montgomery County, Pennsylvania; Passaic County, New Jersey; and Johnson County, Kansas," the report added.

As of this morning our candidates lead in 44 of the 58 races we competed in.\n\nWe may have won 75% of the races we competed in!

— 1776 Project Pac (@1776ProjectPac) 1635942528

The PAC's founder, Ryan Girdusky, told Axios: "My PAC is campaigning on behalf of everyday moms and dads who want to have better access to their children's education."

What else?

Those election victories may just be the beginning of an even larger movement. Election-tracking website Ballotpedia noted that school boards of late have seen an "increased level of political activity" extending "beyond recall efforts to school board elections more broadly."

The website identified 88 school districts across the country where race in education or critical race theory, responses to the coronavirus pandemic, and sex education and gender identity in schools stoked significant activism this past election season.

While some groups are supporting specific candidates, others — such as Moms for Liberty — are energizing parents to educate themselves on the issues, to "stand up for parental rights," and hit the polls. The Florida-based organization is no fringe group, either. It operates 145 chapters in 32 states.

Anything else?

The election victories are the apparent result of the groundswell of angry parents gathering at local school boards to protest progressive policies over the last year. That furor has become a movement.

Yet the movement has not only affected local politics. Rather, candidates for statewide offices such as Virginia governor have also successfully campaigned on wresting educational control from the government and giving it back to parents.

Soon enough, issues relating to critical race theory in classrooms may end up influencing national offices.