Republican-led Culture Wars Are Losing Where It Matters Most

The most consequential result of Florida's August 18 primaries wasn't a statewide race — it was the Sarasota County School Board election, where Beth Mayberry and Megan Tennimon defeated Republican-backed candidates in a county long shaped by Moms for Liberty, giving Democrats a majority over local education. A third Democrat, Jimmy Glover, heads to a November runoff. Moms for Liberty rose to power after the pandemic and has since been hit by controversy, including the scandal involving co-founder Bridget Ziegler after her husband faced a sexual assault accusation in 2023.

The Sarasota result shows voters are tired of Republican-led culture wars and want a return to normalcy, even as similar fights over gender identity, sex education and library content continue in places like Wake County, North Carolina, and Texas. Democrats too often focus on national politics and overlook down-ballot races, even in conservative-leaning areas, while school boards have remained a key culture-war battleground since the pandemic.

Sarasota, alongside a similar school board win in Orange County, Florida, shows Democrats need to be present further down the ballot, not just in statewide races. About two-thirds of U.S. races go uncontested, and many of those go uncontested specifically for Democrats, as seen in New York City's 2025 council races. Building a bench of down-ballot candidates nationwide will take years of organizing, but Sarasota suggests the payoff would be worth it.