In Florida, candidates for school board supported by Governor Ron DeSantis were defeated in several districts on Tuesday. Opponents of the Republican see this result as a rebuke of his conservative education program.

According to preliminary results, incumbent school board members in one of Florida’s largest swing counties appeared to fend off a challenge from DeSantis-backed candidates. Activists had hoped that three challengers backed by the local chapter of Moms for Liberty would win a conservative majority in Pinellas County, home to St. Petersburg on Florida’s Gulf Coast.

However, unofficial results show that current school board president Laura Hine and incumbent member Eileen Long retained their seats after arguing that a political change on the board could cause unrest in the district and distract from the mission of promoting student success.

In a third race for a vacant seat on the Pinellas Board of Supervisors, candidates Stacy Geier and Katie Blaxberg faced a runoff election after none of the three candidates received 50% of the vote.

According to preliminary results, Hine, the panel chair, received 69% of the vote after 100% of precincts reported their results. Challenger Danielle Marolf, backed by DeSantis, received 30%. Incumbent member Long received 54% of the vote, while Erika Picard, also backed by the Republican governor, received 45%.

“We have to focus on the work at hand and not be influenced by the sociopolitical winds. Education is vital. And it has to be stable,” Hine told the Associated Press ahead of Tuesday’s elections.

Governor Ron DeSantis spoke about the outcome of several school board races in the state.

In the third race for the board seat, Stacy Geier received 37% of the vote compared to Katie Blaxberg’s 34%, while third candidate Brad DeCorte received 28%, according to preliminary district results. Geier was endorsed by DeSantis and the local branch of Moms for Liberty, while Blaxberg argued that parental rights activists had gone too far, with some equating books with pornography and calling teachers “groomers.” She found herself on the opposing side of the local branch of Moms for Liberty and was attacked online by conservative activists.

“People are fed up with the misinformation this group of people is spreading and their intention to sow distrust in our teachers,” Blaxberg said.

At a press conference on Wednesday, DeSantis downplayed the losses, noting it was a “tough fight” for conservative candidates in predominantly Democratic districts.

“Just think about it, you’re in a situation now where someone on the Democratic side is celebrating that they won an area, a school board, in a Democratic district. Normally that would just be a fait accompli,” DeSantis said. “Yesterday you moved into some of these areas where Republicans have never been competitive, like the heart of Tampa and some of these other places, but my view is that you have to field candidates and have them compete across the board, you shouldn’t give up any of these elections.”

Much of the political debate during the election campaign centered on “parental rights,” a movement that grew out of opposition to pandemic precautions in schools but is now fueled by heated complaints about teaching about identity, race and history.

“We want to support school board candidates in every capacity possible who believe in putting students first, who respect the rights of parents, and who believe that schools should educate, not indoctrinate. That shouldn’t even be up for debate, but now it’s just a given where some people want to take their education,” DeSantis said.

Long, one of Pinellas’ incumbents, said she viewed the results as a rebuke to the governor.

“People want reason. People want common sense. And people believe we should educate everyone,” Long said. “The people have spoken.”

In neighboring Hillsborough County, where Tampa is located, two current board members – who landed on DeSantis’ list of incumbents he wanted to vote out – appeared to have to fend off challenges from candidates the governor had supported.

After voting in 100% of all precincts, incumbent Nadia Combs had received 52% of the vote, while Layla Collins, who was endorsed by DeSantis, had received 37%. A third candidate, Julie Magill, had received just under 10% of the vote.

Meanwhile, incumbent board member Jessica Vaughn received 58% of the vote, compared to 41% for DeSantis-backed Myosha Powell.

Collins and Powell were among 23 school board candidates DeSantis endorsed this election cycle to continue his fight against “woke” movements in public schools. Combs and Vaughn, meanwhile, boasted the support of the Florida Democratic Party, which endorsed 11 school board candidates statewide.

DeSantis pointed out that Democrats had long supported candidates in school board elections before Republicans made such moves.

“For school unions, this is their Super Bowl. They take the money, the membership fees, and put it into the election campaign. And especially in a nonpartisan election, they can market their candidates to some voters in one way or another. And that’s how it’s been going for a long time,” DeSantis said.

Meanwhile, in South Florida, two conservative board members appointed by DeSantis to the reliably Democratic Broward County School Board appear to have lost their seats to challengers, preliminary results show.

DeSantis appointed Torey Alston to serve on the Broward board in 2022 after the governor removed four elected board members from office after a grand jury accused them of mismanagement and dereliction of duty. DeSantis appointed Daniel Foganholi to serve on the board in 2023 after a voter-selected candidate was unable to take office due to a prior criminal conviction.

When county voters had the opportunity on Tuesday, they chose to remove the two political candidates.

According to all precincts in Broward, the unofficial count showed Maura McCarthy Bulman receiving 51% of the vote, Foganholi 19%, and a third candidate, Chris Canter, receiving 28%.

Meanwhile, Rebecca Thompson, endorsed by the Florida Democratic Party, received 66% of the vote, while Alston received 33%.

The three elected incumbents running for their seats on the Broward Board of Supervisors — Debbi Hixon, Jeff Holness and Sarah Leonardi — each won their respective races by margins of more than 40 percent, according to the county’s unofficial results.

In Miami-Dade, DeSantis-backed Mary Blanco received 45% of the vote in the 7th District school board race, compared to 31% for Democratic-backed Max Tuchman.