Florida School Board at the Center of Culture Wars Loses Conservative Majority
A Florida school board that was at the epicenter of national debates over covid mask mandates and book bans lost its conservative majority this week. Two Democratic-backed candidates, Megan Tennimon and Beth Mayberry, beat conservatives in Tuesday's Sarasota County School Board election, flipping the majority that had been helmed for the past year by Moms for Liberty co-founder Bridget Ziegler. A third Democratic-backed candidate, Jimmy Glover, won the most votes in his three-way race but fell short of 50%, triggering a November runoff against Republican-endorsed Heidi Brandt. If Glover wins, the board would be entirely Democratic-backed, and he would become the first person of color to serve on it, according to county Democratic Party chair David Dean.
DeSantis had gotten personally involved in these typically quiet local races since 2022, endorsing candidates including Ziegler, who did not seek reelection this year after being embroiled in a 2023 scandal involving her husband's sexual assault accusation (he was later cleared). Winning candidates said the results reflect voter fatigue with the culture wars: Tennimon said the community was "tired of the culture wars, the political theater," while Mayberry pointed to backlash over recent board actions, including a vote to remove references to race, sexuality and disability from anti-bullying rules and a resolution reaffirming cooperation with ICE. Moms for Liberty co-founder Tina Descovich pushed back on the idea that the group's influence is fading, noting 11 of the 15 school board candidates it endorsed statewide won or advanced Tuesday. Brandt, the Republican-endorsed runoff candidate, said she hopes the newcomers keep politics out of the board's work.
