Blessing from ‘Moms for Liberty’ turned curse in Iowa school board elections

DES MOINES — In 2021, school board elections in Iowa and across the country swung toward candidates who opposed pandemic-era restrictions on schools, including closures and mask mandates.

Two years later, that pendulum swung in the opposite direction as candidates who supported restrictions on school materials and classroom discussions about gender and transgender students were roundly defeated earlier this week in school board elections in Iowa and in the nation.

School board elections in the Linn-Mar, Ankeny and Johnston school districts in Iowa, just to name a few, went almost exclusively for candidates who were supported by the teachers union and who opposed those book-policing and transgender student policies. And almost exclusively, candidates who were endorsed by conservative groups, including the self-described parents’ rights advocacy group Moms for Liberty, failed.

While Iowa Republicans caution against drawing broad conclusions about conservative K-12 education policies from Tuesday’s elections, experts said the results spoke clearly.

“I think the only way to read the school board elections from Tuesday is a repudiation of Moms for Liberty. They were defeated pretty handily, just about everywhere,” said David Anderson, a political-science professor at Iowa State University. “And it suggests to me that Iowans have had their fill of the culture wars being brought to our schools.”

School board elections in Iowa are non-partisan affairs. The candidates who run for the unpaid positions do not declare allegiance to a political party.

In practice, however, many school board elections in recent years have featured the political divides of Democrat vs. Republican or liberal vs. conservative that are common to other areas of government. And increasingly, political groups and issue advocacy organizations are engaging in school board elections.

The election results

Among the litany of school board elections across Iowa where conservative-leaning candidates were nearly or entirely swept:

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There were similar results throughout Iowa.

In Cedar Rapids, the same electorate that resoundingly rejected the school district’s $220 million bond referendum also reelected three out of four incumbents, while two Moms for Liberty-endorsed candidates were defeated.

In Carroll County, which went for Republican President Donald Trump by 63 percent in 2020, three candidates supported by a Republican state legislator failed to win any of the three open seats.

Advocacy groups react

“Results of (Tuesday’s) elections demonstrate that voters spoke loudly and clearly about who they want to make crucial decisions affecting all students and educators in their local communities,” Mike Beranek, president of the statewide teachers union, the Iowa State Education Association, said in a statement.

Beranek said more than 85 percent of union-endorsed candidates won school board seats in the elections.

“And equally important, we saw the total defeat in the districts where we engaged of the Moms for Liberty candidates and their divisive agenda representing a vocal minority,” Beranek said in the statement.

Moms for Liberty, which has chapters across the country, emerged on the political scene in 2021 as some parents pushed back against pandemic restrictions in public schools. The group has since expanded to opposing books and curriculum that reference race and gender identity, and transgender-affirming school policies.

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The organization has drawn backlash for spreading anti-LGBTQ ideas and stripping libraries and classrooms of diverse material. The Southern Poverty Law Center, a civil rights watchdog, this year identified the nationwide nonprofit as an extremist group.

In a statement emailed to The Gazette, the leader of the Linn County Chapter of Moms for Liberty, Geralyn Jones, said the organization is not angry with the elections results and welcomed the candidates who were elected.

“Make no mistake, we are not angry with the results of the election. We supported parents when they stepped into this ring of fire and we will continue to support the parents, teachers, students and community member alike in years ahead,” Jones said. “It is my hope that one day a bridge will be built in our community, one that doesn’t require reaching deep into the pockets of our taxpayers.”

In her statement, Jones also said Moms for Liberty members experienced “hatefulness” during the campaign and accused the news media of not displaying neutrality or “reporting truth.”

“It saddens me to be on the receiving end of this hateful divide in our community,” Jones said. “Our chapter has experienced nothing but hatefulness this whole election, telling us that our moms, dads and grandparents are unwanted in our community and to leave the district because of our beliefs, yet we’re the ones being labeled an extremist hate group.”

One Iowa Action, the political arm of an advocacy group for LGBTQ individuals, said 85 percent of the school board candidates in Iowa that it endorsed won a seat.

”Iowa voters told us what we’ve always known. We know that book bans and censorship violate the principles of free speech. We know that extreme positions targeting children for exclusion and bullying are unacceptable. Most importantly, we know that kids deserve a safe, inclusive learning environment regardless of who they are or where they come from,” Courtney Reyes, executive director for One Iowa Action, said in a statement. “That’s what this election was about, and that’s the undeniable message that they sent to politicians across our state and across the country.”

Iowa Republicans react

New state laws passed earlier this year in Iowa — with only Republican support — require the removal of any books or curriculum that describe sex acts, prohibit the teaching of sexual orientation or gender identity through sixth grade and prohibit transgender K-12 students from using bathrooms that align with their gender identity.

Statehouse Republicans insist Tuesday’s election results are not a rejection of those policies. They point to Republicans’ recent, resounding victories in Iowa’s general elections, and some public polling that shows a majority of Iowans agree with some of those policies.

Iowa Republicans also suggest the results do not speak to any larger issues because far fewer people vote in school board elections. Melissa Daetsch, a spokeswoman for Republican legislators in the Iowa House, called such a conclusion “quite an oversimplification of Iowans’ position on K-12 policies.”

“Iowa House Republicans have been running on a pro-parent agenda for years and we expanded our majority in both the 2020 and 2022 elections,” Daetsch said. “I don’t think you can claim that Iowans have suddenly changed their minds by using a handful of races in the Des Moines metro, Cedar Rapids and Iowa City in a low-turnout election. These are areas where liberals were already winning.”

A majority of Iowans say public schools should not teach about gender identity or sexual orientation through sixth grade, according to a Des Moines Register/Mediacom Iowa Poll published in March.

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U.S. Rep. Ashley Hinson, a Marion Republican whose children attend school in the Linn-Mar district, also pushed back at the conclusion that Tuesday’s election results were a rejection of those new K-12 policies.

Hinson added that as a parent in the Linn-Mar district, “I’ll be watching that school board very closely.”

“Let me be very clear, I support our public school system. I’m a product of public schools. My mom was a public school teacher,” Hinson told The Gazette. “What I’ve been very clear on … is that it’s critical that parents are empowered and that they’re involved when it comes to their kids’ education.”

Republican Party of Iowa Chair Jeff Kaufmann issued a statement, also pointing to the party’s recent electoral success in the Iowa Legislature, governor’s office and Congress. Iowa has had a Republican governor since 2011, majorities in both chambers of the Iowa Legislature since 2017, and currently occupies all six seats in the state’s congressional delegation.

“Iowa Democrats shouldn’t get giddy spinning yesterday’s results. They are still a super minority in this state and will be as long as they continue to defend (Democratic President) Joe Biden,” Kaufmann said. “Republicans’ ‘parents matter’-focused agenda won resoundingly with Gov. Reynolds winning by 19 points and historic majorities in the Legislature.”

Voters on education issues

Anderson, the ISU political science professor, cautioned against dismissing the implications of Tuesday’s school board elections just because Iowa Republicans have been successful in other recent elections.

“The school board elections distill down to what’s going on in the schools. State legislative elections are about a whole host of other things as well,” Anderson said. “I understand their claim that says, ‘Yeah, we campaigned on this, and we won.’ But they also campaigned on a host of other things, and voters are making compromises, voters are making choices. And when it comes to the state Legislature, they may have cared about other things more.

“Elections are about things, and every election is about something different. And you know, voters aren’t dumb. They know the difference between what a school board does and what a state Legislature does.”

With consecutive wave elections in the opposite direction, Anderson said it is possible that school board elections will be less partisan again starting in 2025.

“Iowans want our teachers to feel supported, that we respect what they do, and we trust them,” Anderson said. “And that they would sort of like to get back to normal.”

Tom Barton of The Gazette’s Des Moines Bureau contributed to this report.

Comments: (515) 355-1300, erin.murphy@thegazette.com