Pinellas school board race draws complaint over ad featuring DeSantis

A Pinellas County School Board member seeking re-election alleges Republican leaders crossed legal boundaries in campaign ads that endorse her challenger.

In a complaint to the Florida Elections Commission, Eileen Long says mailers and texts in support of opponent Erika Picard violate a state law that says candidates cannot be identified by their party in non-partisan races.

She attached a mailer that calls Erika Picard a “Republican School Board candidate.” Picard, a school guidance counselor and real estate broker, is seen in a photograph with Gov. Ron DeSantis, who is quoted endorsing her.

The mailer does not indicate whether Picard approved the message, and Picard said Wednesday that she did not. The return address shows it was paid for by Empower Parents Florida, a political action committee. State records show the committee is chaired by Paul Renner, the Republican Speaker of the House of Representatives.

“I must wonder if this was an egregious oversight on behalf of the Empower Parents Florida PAC or perhaps an intentional political move less than a week before the conclusion of the primary election cycle,” Long, a career educator seeking her third term in office, wrote in the complaint filed Tuesday.

“As someone who values the nonpartisan nature of school board races, I am disheartened by this behavior and disregard for the laws which keep our elections fair and civil for all.”

Spokespeople for Renner and the Republican Party of Florida did not respond to requests for comment Wednesday.

“I have never approved anything going out that says I’m a Republican on it,” Picard said. “Since I have the endorsement of our governor, I imagine the legal team has made sure it’s something that is legally allowed to happen.”

She called Long’s complaint “a political move on her part. I can see why she would do it. I have definitely tried to run a very clean campaign, not bashing anybody. I just want to get accurate information out about myself.”

Republican leaders including DeSantis have made no secret about their desire to help like-minded candidates assume control of the state’s school boards. In the weeks leading up to Tuesday’s primary elections, texts and digital advertisements have circulated that tout candidates’ conservative positions on issues such as library books, classroom curriculum and spending.

Picard is not the only school board candidate who has been highlighted in these ads.

A flyer for Myosha Powell, a school board candidate in northern Hillsborough, also identifies her as a Republican along with a photograph of the governor. Powell’s opponent, incumbent Jessica Vaughn, said she has not taken any formal action.

DeSantis announced more than a year ago that he was targeting specific members of both school boards for defeat. Locally, he identified Vaughn and Nadia Combs in Hillsborough, and Long and Laura Hine in Pinellas.

Because they are nonpartisan, school board races with only two candidates will be decided in Tuesday’s primary election. That includes the contests between Vaughn and Powell, Long and Picard, and Hine and Danielle Marolf. DeSantis is backing Marolf in the Pinellas race.

DeSantis has also endorsed Layla Collins in her bid to unseat Combs in Hillsborough.

That race has a third candidate, Julie Magill, which means it will continue to a November runoff if no candidate captures more than half the votes. Although Magill holds conservative views and is a registered Republican, she alleged earlier this year that local party leaders pressured her to drop out and clear the field for Collins.