DeSantis takeover of Florida school boards has big setback

TALLAHASSEE, Florida — Gov. Ron DeSantis’ attempt to elect conservative-leaning school board members across Florida hit a snag Tuesday, as candidates backed by the Republican governor fell in several key races.

DeSantis, who has made reshaping Florida's education system a top priority, endorsed 23 candidates ahead of Tuesday’s election. And as of late Tuesday night, at least 11 appear to have lost. That is a notable downturn from 2022, when DeSantis saw a runaway success: Of the 30 he endorsed two years ago, just five lost.

Candidates endorsed by DeSantis won six races, according to unofficial county election results, with another six heading to runoffs in November.

Although Florida’s school board elections are nonpartisan, candidates in some high-profile races had dueling endorsements and donations from conservatives like DeSantis and the parents' group Moms for Liberty, and state Democrats and the Florida Education Association, the state’s largest teachers union.

The school board elections come just months after DeSantis dropped out of the 2024 presidential race. During his governorship, DeSantis built clout and power throughout Florida, reshaping the state legislature, state Supreme Court and school boards through his endorsements or appointments. That his preferred school board candidates didn’t win Tuesday could be a sign of his decreasing influence in the wake of his failed presidential bid.

Out of the four matchups where DeSantis and the Florida Democratic Party went head-to-head, Democrats notched two wins compared to one for the governor, with another set for a runoff. These races were some of the more heated in Florida, as candidates squared off over issues like book banning and the role parents have in shaping their children’s education.

The Democratic Party of Florida endorsed 11 candidates this cycle, of which seven won Tuesday with two of those races heading to runoffs. The party’s efforts were meant to “fight back against Ron’s Moms for Liberty candidates and their partisan extremism,” said Florida Democratic Party Chair Nikki Fried.

“When we knocked doors and made phone calls for these candidates, we kept hearing the same question from voters — ‘is your candidate going to ban books, or are they going to protect them?’” Fried said in a statement Tuesday night. “Our freedom starts in our schools, and we’re proud to have supported candidates who will fight for our students’ rights to see themselves represented in a book, to feel safe at school, and ensure every student has access to a high-quality education where they can learn and grow.”

A spokesperson for DeSantis’ political operation did not return a request for comment Tuesday. But his aides cast Tuesday's results as the governor being willing to pick fights he might not always win.

"There were A LOT of uphill battles in historically blue districts today, but you don’t shift the culture by only supporting winnable races," Jeremy Redfern, a spokesperson for the governor, posted on X . Redfern celebrated the results in Duval County, where two out of three DeSantis-backed candidates won, as flipping the board in a "a win for students and parents in a historically blue county."

In Hillsborough County, incumbents Nadia Combs and Jessica Vaughn, both endorsed by Democrats and the FEA, retained their seats against Layla Collins, the wife of GOP state Sen. Jay Collins, and Myosha Powell — both endorsed by DeSantis. Those two seats could have flipped the makeup of the local school board in the Tampa area.

For Duval County, DeSantis endorsee Melody Ann Bolduc defeated Sarah Ann Mannion, who had the support of Democrats and the FEA. Down in Miami-Dade County, DeSantis-backed candidate Mary Blanco, an incumbent appointed by the governor, will face Max Tuchman, who was endorsed by Democrats, in a fall runoff.

In Pinellas County, DeSantis endorsed three candidates who were also backed by Moms for Liberty — including two against incumbents — in another bid to shake up a local school board. But the incumbents Eileen Long and Laura Hine defeated DeSantis endorsees Erika Picard and Danielle Marolf. The third DeSantis endorsee, Stacy Geier, is set for a runoff race.

Tuesday night stands in stark contrast to 2022, when DeSantis waded into school board races for the first time. His allies’ wins across the state came on the heels of the Covid-19 pandemic that upended education and frustrated many parents.

Election results on Tuesday night are unofficial until they are certified by election officials — a standard process. The Associated Press does not typically project winners in school board races like they do for congressional and legislative contests; POLITICO’s win and loss tallies for school boards are based on races where every single precinct was reporting results to election officials as of late Tuesday night.