DeSantis-Backed Candidates Face Losses In Latest School Board Elections

Several school board candidates endorsed by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis lost their local elections on Tuesday, according to the Associated Press.

DeSantis had endorsed 23 school board members running in the Florida election, but 11 lost to their opponents, Politico reported. The Florida school board elections were deemed nonpartisan, but both sides had separate endorsements from the Conservative group Moms for Liberty and Democrat-leaning groups such as the state’s biggest teacher’s union.

Tuesday’s results differed from those in 2022, where the DeSantis-backed candidates won the majority of the elections and flipped five counties. DeSantis endorsed 30 candidates in 2022, and only five of them lost, according to Politico.

Despite 11 of the 23 DeSantis-endorsed candidates losing to their opponents, the historically blue Duval County was flipped, DeSantis spokesperson Jeremy Redfern said in a post on X.

“There were A LOT of uphill battles in historically blue districts today, but you don’t shift the culture by only supporting winnable races,” Redfern wrote. “Flipping the Duval County School Board is a win for students and parents in a historically blue county.”

In the Pinellas County third race for a school board spot, Stacy Geier, who was endorsed by DeSantis and the local chapter of Moms for Liberty, received 37% of votes, while her opponents Katie Blaxberg (34%) and Brad DeCorte (28%) trailed behind, according to the AP. Since none of the candidates received at least 50% of the vote, they will need to do a runoff election.