Tampa Bay voters reject DeSantis-backed school board candidates

Tampa Bay voters largely rebuked school board candidates backed by Gov. Ron DeSantis in Tuesday's elections.

In Pinellas, incumbents Laura Hine (District 1) and Eileen Long (District 4) were on track to stave off challenges from DeSantis-backed candidates who sought to flip the board to a conservative majority.\

• The District 5 race will head to a runoff in the general election because none of the three candidates got at least 50% of the vote.
• Come November, DeSantis-backed candidate Stacy Geier will face Katie Blaxberg for the seat that's being vacated by longtime board member Carol Cook.

By the numbers: Hine crushed opponent Danielle Marolf with 69% of the vote, while Long got about 55% to opponent Erika Picard's 45%, according to unofficial results .

• Geier had a slight lead, garnering about 37% of the vote to Blaxberg's 35%.

In Hillsborough, incumbents Nadia Combs (District 1) and Jessica Vaughn (District 3) were leading DeSantis-endorsed challengers whose platforms prioritized parental rights.

• Layla Collins, a veteran and wife of state Sen. Jay Collins, outraised Combs almost 2-1 and landed several high-profile endorsements.
• Vaughn, meanwhile, significantly outraised her opponent, Myosha Powell.
• Henry "Shake" Washington (District 5) and Lynn Gray (District 7), whose races neither DeSantis nor the FDP weighed in on, also cruised to re-election.

Catch up quick: The races on both sides of the bay are part of a broader partisan trend in what are supposed to be nonpartisan school board races.

• Tension over how to handle the pandemic in schools gave rise to the so-called "parental rights" movement and groups like Moms for Liberty that scrutinized books and curricula they deemed inappropriate.
• DeSantis and Republicans in the state Legislature helped pass laws to exert more control over what students have access to.

The other side: Critics say "parental rights" is a dog whistle for a broader movement to usher conservative, Christian values into public schools.

• Many of the materials targeted by parental rights supporters centered LGBTQ+ themes and characters or explored issues of racial and gender privilege.

The bottom line: With Tuesday's results, Tampa Bay voters rejected that platform.