Penna Dexter

A bright spot in the midterm election results was the success of many candidates who won school board positions by opposing wokeness, radical gender ideologies and overzealous COVID policies. Many of these candidates, and others who have been winning local elections over the past couple of years, received training and support from groups like the 1776 Project and Moms for Liberty.

The idea is to flip majority-Left school boards to boards containing majorities who will recognize and remove leftist, anti-family and destructive ideologies from the curriculum.

The 1776 Project says it has flipped over 100 races nationwide. And, according to The Daily Caller, “Of the 67 candidates Moms for Liberty supported in Florida school board elections, 41 won.” The Daily Signal also identified big wins in Maryland, Indiana, South Carolina, and Michigan. In Texas, three anti-CRT candidates for the state school board saw success in their primaries, and 10 of the 15 state board seats went to Republicans.

School board races are often non-partisan, but most Republicans are celebrating these wins. Unbelievably though, this progress for parental rights is being undercut by Republican support for one of the first bills considered in the lame-duck session of Congress. Within days of the election, 12 Republican senators voted to move forward on what Family Research Council calls “the most important vote on parental rights in the last 10 years.” FRC makes the case that, if enacted, the deceptively-named Respect for Marriage Act, would mean parents speaking at school board meetings in support of policies that emphasize and support natural marriage, would, in effect have their microphones turned off.

FRC President Tony Perkins said of the Respect for Marriage Act, “Once this is codified into law, parents will be considered bigots for pushing back on extremism in the classroom.”

The increased influence the electorate gave parents over what their children are taught about gender and the definition of marriage should be protected, not destroyed, by congressional Republicans.