The Fight To Save A Swing-State School Board From Far-Right Extremists

In New Hanover County, an increasingly purple pocket of North Carolina, the board of education race is a microcosm of state politics — a close fight between the Democratic Party and a GOP that has lurched further and further right under Donald Trump.

After two years of the board’s far-right agenda, voters have a chance to dilute conservatives’ power in November. The seven-seat board currently has five Republicans, one of whom occasionally votes with Democrats. Since only three seats are up for grabs this fall, Democrats would have to wait until 2026 to attempt to flip the board — but if they sweep the election this fall, they’ll still have three guaranteed votes.

On the flip side, Republican victories in those races would mean the conservatives would have total control of the board.

Perhaps the most controversial candidate for the New Hanover board is Natosha Tew, the legislative chair of the county’s Moms for Liberty chapter. (The vice chair of the chapter was just arrested for her role in the Jan. 6 insurrection.) Tew’s campaign website says that “the foundation of my candidacy is on fixing our schools by removing the politicized ‘Woke’ curriculum.” She openly embraces anti-government conspiracy theories and has railed against the Biden administration’s changes to Title IX, the law that protects people from gender and sex-based discrimination.


https://www.huffpost.com/entry/north-carolina-school-board-extremists_n_66ec41efe4b083d40a2c6d0c