Voters say no to hate as Moms for Liberty candidates are defeated across the country

Moms for Liberty faced big defeats in Tuesday’s elections in at least four states. The anti-LGBTQ+ extremist group, which has been at the forefront of nationwide efforts to inject a far-right agenda onto local school boards, endorsed scores of school board candidates in 11 states this year. But as Tuesday’s election results continue to roll in, there are indications that the group’s toxic influence may be waning among voters.

In Virginia, five of the six candidates Moms for Liberty endorsed appear poised for defeat. The group endorsed four candidates in Loudon County, where only one, Deana L. Griffiths, was elected by a single percentage point. Elsewhere in the state, Mario Beckles lost his race for a seat on the Prince William County Public School board, while The Roanoke Times reports that Montgomery County School Board candidate Mark Miear trailed incumbent Penny Franklin by 67 votes as of Wednesday morning.

Related:

Moms for Liberty called the cops on a librarian for letting a 17-year-old check out a YA novel

The claimed that the librarian was giving adult material to minors.

The Daily Beast reports that nine of the 13 candidates endorsed by the group in Iowa lost their elections. Laura Steffeck, Kevin Slaman, and Tom Law lost their bids for seats on the Linn-Mar school board. Elsewhere in Linn County, voters rejected Greg Papin for the Mount Vernon school board, while Barclay Woener and Richard David lost their races for the Cedar Rapids school board. In Polk County, Teri Patrick, the Education Chair for Moms for Liberty’s local chapter, lost a bid to be on the West Des Moines school board, while Charles Steele and Michelle Veach failed in their races for open at-large seats on the Johnston Community School Board of Education.

Insights for the LGBTQ+ community

Subscribe to our briefing for insights into how politics impacts the LGBTQ+ community and more.

Daily

Weekly

Good News

According to the Beast, not one of the four candidates Moms for Liberty endorsed in Minnesota received a double-digit share of the vote in their races in the Rosemount-Apple Valley-Eagan school district. Meanwhile, the group’s only endorsed candidate in North Carolina lost her bid for one of three open seats on the Mooresville Graded School District Board of Education.

The group also faced losses in Pennsylvania and Ohio. Cynthia Lampkins and John Dooley both lost in the race for seats on Ohio’s Gahanna-Jefferson City School District board, while Alex Bilchak failed to win an at-large seat on the New Albany-Plain Local School District board.

Voters in Pennsylvania appeared to have soured on Moms for Liberty even before Tuesday’s elections. As The Philadelphia Inquirer reported last month, even candidates who were aligned with the group’s extremist positions feared that an endorsement might alienate moderate voters. The group distributed a “voter guide” listing candidates in districts across the state, but stressed that inclusion in the guide did not constitute an official endorsement.  

In Pennsylvania’s Bucks County, Moms for Liberty only endorsed one candidate, Michael Hartline (R). According to Patch, Hartline appears to have defeated incumbent Democrat Shelley Eilenberg in the race for her seat on the Centennial School District board.

But elsewhere in Bucks County, all five of the Republicans vying for seats on the Central Bucks School District board who were listed in Mom’s for Liberty’s “voter guide” lost to Democrats, according to The Daily Beast. Similarly, five Republican candidates running in the Pennridge school district on an anti-trans platform all lost to Democrats. And in Chester County, a Democrat defeated Moms for Liberty endorsed candidate Christopher Bressi in a race for a seat on the Downingtown Area School District board.

Moms for Liberty has spent the past few years whipping up right-wing hysteria against anti-racist and LGBTQ+ content in schools. The group’s past activities include offering bounties for turning in teachers who discuss “divisive topics,” attacking the Trevor Project for trying to prevent LGBTQ+ teen suicide, trying to get a book about seahorses banned for being too sexy, complaining about a book on the Civil War because it portrays “white people as ‘bad’ or ‘evil,’” trying to get librarians arrested for offering “inappropriate books,” saying that two girls briefly kissing at a school function is “lewd” and “traumatic,” lobbying in Florida for the Don’t Say Gay bill, encouraging schools to ignore LGBTQ History Month, and suggesting that LGBTQ+ students be forcibly isolated from other pupils.