Latest news with #PatriotMobileAction
Yahoo
06-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
School board races across Texas deal losses for many conservatives
Conservative school board candidates across Texas suffered an array of defeats in Saturday's local elections, marking a clear setback for the Republican-aligned movement to shape how grade school curriculums and library books confront issues of race, sex and gender. The sweeping losses for conservative school board hopefuls also served as an early sign of potential backlash to the nascent administration of President Donald Trump, ahead of a 2026 midterm in which a number of statewide offices will be on the ballot. Midterm elections historically have spelled trouble for the incumbent president's party in down-ballot races. Saturday's elections saw the defeat of numerous conservative school board trustees in the Tarrant County suburbs surrounding Fort Worth, the epicenter of the state's recent culture war fights over how students should learn about race and gender. All seven school board candidates in contested races who were endorsed by the Tarrant County Republican Party lost their elections. The fight dates back to 2022, when a network of conservative donors and groups led by Patriot Mobile Action — a North Texas Christian nationalist PAC funded by a cellphone company — backed a slate of 11 school board candidates around the area, 10 of whom won their elections. That included major gains on the Mansfield ISD board, where the newfound conservative majority gave itself oversight over which library books could be added to school shelves, presaging a proposal now making its way through the Legislature. All three Mansfield ISD trustees up for reelection Saturday had been backed by Patriot Mobile Action and were endorsed this year by the Tarrant County GOP; all three lost their reelection bids. The party's pick for Mansfield mayor, Julie Short, also failed to unseat incumbent Michael Evans. Conservatives also racked up losses on the nearby Arlington, Grapevine-Colleyville and Keller ISD boards. Keller ISD trustees have drawn statewide attention over a 2022 policy that, in practice, allowed community members to block proposed book purchases. Conservative activist Carlos Turcios called the results 'horrible news.' 'The Radical DEI Left has flipped the conservative school board. Mansfield ISD has capitulated to the DEI-LGBTQ Left. Prayers,' Turcios wrote on social media, adding that Mansfield 'has gone to Hell.' Tarrant County GOP Chair Bo French said the losses came after an election in which the party 'did more than we have ever done in terms of voter contact.' 'We will have to analyze who turned out and who didn't before we know everything. But, it seems the average Republican just doesn't care about local elections,' French said, adding that he believes some GOP voters felt 'no urgency locally' after Trump's election, 'because Trump is winning on so many issues.' Though school board elections are nonpartisan and have traditionally been sleepy, low-budget affairs, they have been seized by the hyperpolarized and partisan fervor once restricted to national politics — making Saturday's elections all but nonpartisan in name only. Still, Jon Taylor, a political science professor at the University of Texas at San Antonio, cautioned both parties against reading too much into the results, given that this weekend's scant voter participation was not indicative of who will turn out in next year's midterms. 'I'm not convinced that somehow, reading the tea leaves, this will be a big year for the Democrats in '26 because of what happened in local elections with 3% to 7% turnout,' Taylor said. 'That said, if I were the Republicans, I would be at least a little bit worried that in a low-information, low-turnout election, the doctrinaire, far-right, almost Christian nationalist conservatives didn't fare well.' The conservative school board wipeout also extended to the Houston area, where the Katy ISD board president, Victor Perez, was ousted by a longtime educator who campaigned on shifting the board's focus away from culture war battles. Perez's tenure on the board has been defined by book bans and policies requiring students to use the bathroom that aligns with their sex assigned at birth, along with requiring school staff to tell parents if a student asks to 'be identified as transgender, change his or her name, or use different pronouns at school.' Such policies typically passed on 4-3 votes, with Perez among the majority. In nearby Fort Bend ISD, voters also ushered in a new majority coalition that opposes the far-reaching book removal policy approved by the board last year. It was not universally bad news for conservatives, who will have a chance for redemption in the San Antonio mayoral race after Rolando Pablos — a former Texas secretary of state who has framed himself as the top fiscal conservative option for voters — advanced to a June runoff. Pablos was appointed secretary of state by Gov. Greg Abbott in 2017 and was tapped for the Public Utility Commission by Abbott's GOP predecessor, Rick Perry. His campaign has been bolstered by a local conservative group, the Texas Economic Fund, whose political strategist previously served as Abbott's political director. Running in a field of 27 candidates, Pablos received nearly 17% of the vote in Saturday's contest — good for second place and a spot in the runoff against first-place finisher Gina Ortiz Jones, who tallied 27%. Jones is a former Democratic congressional candidate who served as undersecretary of the U.S. Air Force under the Biden administration. Pablos wasted no time framing Jones as a continuation of the status quo under the current city government helmed by term-limited Mayor Ron Nirenberg. In a statement Saturday evening, he pointed to the poor showing from incumbent San Antonio City Council members running for mayor — none finished higher than fourth — as evidence that voters had rejected 'business as usual.' 'San Antonio now has a clear choice, and I am confident they will reject Gina Jones for what she represents: more of the same, failed leadership from the San Antonio political machine that has left poverty rates in stagnation and caused businesses to pass over the Alamo city due to the radical, misplaced policy priorities that are completely out of line with the values of San Antonians,' Pablos said in the statement. Jones kept her election night watch party closed to media and did not issue a public statement Saturday, though she told the San Antonio Report that 'we know the work is not done.' 'We've got 30 [days] ahead of us to continue to show voters what I look forward to doing, in concert with the rest of the City Council, to make sure we move our city forward,' Jones said. Taylor said Jones is not actually a City Hall 'insider' and noted that, no matter who wins, the next mayor will be the first without prior City Council experience since Phil Hardberger, who was first elected mayor in 2005. Regardless, Taylor said, Pablos' attack linking Jones to the 'political machine' could play well among his base in the conservative areas of San Antonio, where participation tends to be more reliable in low-turnout municipal races. 'Those are the kind of voters that are likely going to turn out in higher numbers than the younger voters Gina Ortiz Jones has been focusing on,' Taylor said. Disclosure: Texas Secretary of State and University of Texas at San Antonio have been financial supporters of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune's journalism. Find a complete list of them here. Tickets are on sale now for the 15th annual Texas Tribune Festival, Texas' breakout ideas and politics event happening Nov. 13–15 in downtown Austin. TribFest 2025 is presented by JPMorganChase.
Yahoo
04-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
How did conservative candidates fare in Tarrant County area elections?
Several candidates backed by conservative groups lost their election bids on Saturday. The seats on the ballot are nonpartisan positions, but True Texas Project and Patriot Mobile Action are among the right-leaning groups that have waded into recent elections, backing conservative candidates and policies. True Texas Project, which is listed as an antigovernmental group by the Southern Poverty Law Center, recommended 31 candidates for school board, city government and other local offices. They went a step further and endorsed three: Cary Cheshire for Tarrant County College Trustee and incumbents Tammy Nakamura for Grapevine-Colleyville school board and Charlie Lauersdorf for Fort Worth City Council. Only Lauersdorf won. Seventeen of its recommended candidates lost, and one race is headed into a runoff. Among the conservative candidates to lose was Julie Short, who trailed incumbent Mayor Michael Evans, who was seeking his third term. The role of right wing politics came up on the campaign trail leading up to Election Day in the North Texas suburb. 'Mayor Michael Evans ran a positive, honorable campaign & is beating Julie Short handily,' said Matt Angle, founder of the Lone Star Project in a post on X. The group works to elect Democrats to office. 'Short invited MAGA haters armed with outsider $$ into her campaign, and they torpedoed her chances.' In Grapevine-Colleyville, Nakamura lost to Matt Foust. Patriot Mobile Action spent much of its resources in recent months backing Nakamura's reelection bid. The political committee arm of a Christian conservative wireless provider has gotten involved in several local school board races in the past. Cheshire had support from several conservative groups, but lagged well behind his opponent for Tarrant County College Trustee, Veronica Chavez Law. Of the 26 candidates endorsed by the Tarrant County Republican Party, 11 won and one is headed to a runoff. The Tarrant County Democratic Party published a list of approved candidates on social media, which in some cases included multiple candidates bidding for the same position. Of the 21 approved candidates, eight won and 12 lost. One is headed to a runoff. This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
