By now you know the outcome of Tuesday night's election i.e. the incredible success of the Democratic Party, the repudiation of books bans and anti-trans tropes, and the historical ascension of LGBTQ candidates to public office.
I'm spotlighting a particularly delicious outcome from Tuesday night. Reactionary hate group Moms for Liberty got destroyed. I mean that to say their endorsed candidates lost a vast majority of schoolboard elections.
And that has been the talk all day. Here is just a small bit of the buzz about the group's huge losses.
Moms for Liberty crows about its success in helping its chosen candidates win their elections; of the 500 right-wing candidates the group endorsed for school board last year, three-quarters of whom had never before run, 275 won their races.
But this year, Moms for Liberty’s luck appears to be running out—last night, many of the group’s favored candidates lost.
Here is a non-exhaustive list of results, as of Wednesday morning, in a few places where there were candidates endorsed or recommended by Moms for Liberty:
In Pennsylvania, the group recommended (but didn’t officially endorse) candidates in five districts. In Central Bucks, five parents’ rights candidates lost their seats to Democrats, as did another five in the Pennridge
In Iowa, the group endorsed 13 candidates. Just one won.
In Virginia’s Loudoun County, so far, it appeared that three Moms for Liberty-backed candidates had lost their races.
In North Carolina’s Mooresville Graded School District Board of Education, a Moms for Liberty-backed candidate lost to a Democrat.
In Minnesota’s Rosemount-Apple Valley-Eagan School District all four of the Moms for Liberty candidates were defeated.
Far-right groups like Moms for Liberty say they speak for parents, a proposition that’s always been dubious. As they push for book bans, whitewash American history, and try to drive LGBTQ+ teachers and students back into the closet, they’ve made plenty of enemies. Parents, especially mothers, have gone head to head with Moms for Liberty and the candidates it backs, stunting the far right’s march through local school boards. That trend was particularly apparent on Tuesday evening when anti-diversity candidates lost a number of pivotal school-board races across the nation.
When Moms for Liberty assaults protections for LGBTQ+ children in public schools, and threatens to out trans children to families that may not be welcoming, they do so with specious arguments about “parental rights.” Nobody wants to co-parent with the government, they argue, and parents have a right to know what their children are doing in school. Members have backed policies that would prevent teachers from covering LGBTQ+ topics in the classroom, ban trans girls from playing school sports, and notify parents if a child requests a name change at school. Those policies place LGBTQ+ students — and educators — at risk. Tuesday’s school-board races tested the nation’s priorities: Did voters want culture war or did they want candidates focused more on the work of education? The answer is a blow for Moms for Liberty and their larger platform.
Moms for Liberty was founded in 2021 to push back against Covid-19 restrictions in schools. It has since expanded to opposing classes on diversity, curbing the rights of LGBTQ students, and banning books. But on Tuesday, voters across the country pushed back on the Moms for Liberty agenda. The organization endorsed more than 130 candidates across the country, and the vast majority of them lost—with some failing to get more than single-digit support.
Each loss the group experienced resulted in a victory for LGBTQ+ and students of color. It also meant a loss for hatred, bigotry, racism, transphobia, and homophobia. This hate group is desperately trying to infiltrate and poison the public education system, which is why it’s so important that voters stand up and refuse to let MFL gain a foothold. It’s also very pleasant to think of MFL’s reaction to the whole country illustrating so plainly that it wants nothing to do with these hateful extremists.
Sticks and stones may break our bones, but you’ll still never be a woman. 🤷♀️ https://t.co/PrxXYtbUuq
— Tiffany Justice (@4TiffanyJustice) November 8, 2023
Tiffany dear, your bitterness flavors our tea.
