Yesterday, “The Wall of Separation” noted that reproductive rights and religious freedom won big during Tuesday’s elections. Here’s some more good news: Across the county, the vast majority of school board candidates backed by the extreme Christian Nationalist group Moms for Liberty (MfL) lost their races.
The group, which pushes anti-LGBTQ+ policies and seeks censorship in public schools, has been on a quest to get its backers on school boards, where they spawn chaos by raising inflammatory culture war issues.
Several news outlets have reported about the failure of Moms for Liberty candidates in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Iowa, Minnesota and elsewhere. The Huffington Post reported, “The group’s results in Ohio were dismal.” The group endorsed 16 candidates in Hamilton and Franklin counties. Only four won.
Across the border in Pennsylvania, Moms for Liberty candidates fared poorly in the Philadelphia suburbs, including Bucks County, an area the group has targeted since its founding in 2021.
In Iowa, Moms for Liberty endorsed 13 candidates in four counties. Only one was victorious. In Loudoun County, Va., a Washington, D.C., exurb and a frequent site of culture war battles, all nine seats on the school board were open. Moms for Liberty backed four candidates. Only one won.
In Minnesota, the Daily Beast reported, “all four candidates put forward by MfL were wiped out in the race for the Rosemount-Apple Valley-Eagan School District. None of them managed to attract double-digit support, with voters predominantly favoring three incumbents and one newcomer to the school board.”
It can be difficult to get a handle on how many MfL-friendly candidates were on the ballot on Tuesday. Some conservative candidates have sought to distance themselves from the group while essentially endorsing its agenda, but The New Republic reported, “[O]n 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.”
No one should conclude that this is the end of Moms for Liberty. But these results are a welcome blow to the group’s agenda of exclusion and hate. They’re also a sign that Americans understand that our public schools must be welcoming to all and not function as the property of a band of intolerant Christian Nationalists.
Photo: Protesters speak out against Moms for Liberty in Philadelphia. Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images
