DeSantis’ Education Agenda Continues & GOP Supremacy – Top 3 Takeaways – February 23rd, 2023
- The mission continues. Last year was the year of Parental Rights in Education in Florida. Actually, you could make the case that the primary education agenda of the previous two years was parental rights related – with parental rights laws passed in each. In 2021 it was about fighting teachers’ unions to keep schools open and then to unmask our kids in the classroom. Last year was about education as opposed to indoctrination in the classroom. But last year also marked another educational first in Florida. It was the first time a sitting governor specifically weighed in with a specific education agenda for school board candidates, while endorsing select candidates in school board races who adhered to it. And the results were remarkable as almost all of his endorsed candidates won in Florida, flipping numerous school boards in the process. At the time there was a question about why Governor DeSantis didn’t endorse any school board candidates in Palm Beach County and a wonder about whether the county which flipped red in all state office races, and eventually the county commission, could have flipped its school board as well. While there’s no way to know whether the results would have been different had he weighed in, we do now know he plans to continue to weigh in. In fact...now proactively. Governor DeSantis has recently advocated for making school board races partisan races in Florida, and in the meantime, he’s already weighing in on specific school board races across the state. Yesterday the governor, along with Education Commissioner Manny Diaz Jr and Florida House Speaker Pauel Renner met with Moms for Liberty. The purpose...
- To further expand the DeSantis Education Agenda across the state. And the mechanism to do so, through flipping more school board races. Fourteen incumbent targets were identified through the meeting (though none in Palm Beach County as we don’t have any races up for election until next year) and now the mission is to recruit candidates willing to take them on. This change in tactic by the governor, in making clear on the front end who he wants to see voted out, will no doubt help in candidate recruitment in these districts across the state. Prior to last year’s school board races in Florida, incumbents running for reelection won over 90% of the time. With DeSantis’ backed candidates having won 29 of the 30 contests he weighed in on, those concerns for challenging candidates no longer applies. And on that note, candidates in Palm Beach County should take note. 2024 will be an insanely busy year politically in Florida. Laying the groundwork with Moms for Liberty and the governor today, could pave the path to flipping the Palm Beach County school board next year. There’s a reason DeSantis chose not to endorse in PBC last year, having candidates he’s comfortable with could make all of the difference next year. The mission continues. Speaking of which...
- Change is in the air. The year was... The DOW topped 3,000 for the first time. Everything I Do I Do It for You was number one. Operation Desert Storm was an overwhelming success. Jeffrey Dahmer was arrested. The World Series featured the first and only meeting of worst to first teams. It was 1991 and it happened to be the most recent time, until now, that in Gallup’s ongoing surveying of political parties Republicans had an outright advantage over Democrats when Independents are factored in (in which Gallup asks which party they currently lean towards). It had been tied a few times over the decades since, most recently in 2011, but not since 1991 have Republicans had an outright advantage in party ID w/leaners until now. By a margin of 45% to 44%, Republicans now lead nationally according to their most recent surveying. And if you think about this in the context of Presidential politics it seemingly lines up. Republicans have won three presidential elections since then. In only one of those did they win the national popular vote. By way of comparison, Democrats had a five-point advantage with Indy leaners factored in, in 2020. Which means the kind of change that’s in the air appears to be pretty powerful. It’s not an election year, however the current political environment appears to be as favorable as it’s been for Republicans in well over thirty years. The question is what will they do with it? And can they maintain it? The kind of political change we haven’t seen in decades is in the air.