The Most Important Elections No One Is Talking About

With 20 days left until the filing deadline - we urgently need candidates to run for the SBOE.

Last week, the State Board of Education (SBOE) rejected science books that teach children about climate change. The week before, they sent educational resources to teachers regarding the Israel/Palestine conflict. Many educators and community members testified that these so-called resources were full of factual errors and showed political bias.

In August, extremist, insurrectionist SBOE member Julie Pickren announced to the world that they would be implementing PragerU in the classrooms. Later, the rest of the SBOE members said that wouldn’t happen.

Throughout history, fascist regimes have targeted education as a way to expand their ideas and solidify control over societies. What we’re seeing currently taking place is the consequences of electing fascists to the SBOE.

The GOP intends to indoctrinate Texas children through public schools.

They are pushing education curricula to align with their ideologies, rewriting textbooks, revising history lessons, and introducing propaganda materials that emphasize racist narratives and demonize marginalized groups. The control over educational content will allow them to shape the values and beliefs of children. In other words, they are playing the long game and must be stopped.

We’ve seen this done in history before.

Under Adolf Hitler’s regime, education became a critical tool for Nazi indoctrination. The Nazis sought to mold the youth into loyal followers of the party and the Aryan ideology. They rewrote textbooks to align with Nazi beliefs, incorporated Nazi propaganda into school curricula, and established the Hitler Youth movement to indoctrinate young boys with Nazi ideology, militarism, and anti-Semitism.

Schools became a platform for spreading racist and nationalist narratives, promoting the superiority of the Aryan race, and demonizing Jews, Roma, disabled individuals, and other marginalized groups.

Benito Mussolini's fascist regime also manipulated education to shape a new generation of loyal fascists. The Italian Fascist Party exerted control over schools, universities, and cultural institutions. The curriculum was adjusted to glorify Italy's imperial past, emphasize nationalist values, and cultivate blind loyalty to the state and its leader. History textbooks were rewritten to portray Mussolini as a heroic figure and Italy as a superior civilization. The regime aimed to create obedient, militaristic, and nationalist citizens through the education system.

Francisco Franco's fascist regime in Spain similarly used education to instill loyalty to the regime and its ideologies. Schools were transformed into instruments for promoting Spanish nationalism, Catholicism, and loyalty to Franco. The curriculum was revised to reinforce the virtues of authoritarianism, glorify the military, and suppress regional languages and cultures. Students were indoctrinated with nationalist propaganda, and teachers were required to promote the regime's values and ideals.

We know how this ends.

With 20 days left until the filing deadline - we urgently need candidates to run for the SBOE.

There are 15 SBOE seats. The current breakdown of them is ten Republicans and five Democrats. Yes, they are heavily gerrymandered. But considering that white Republicans are a shrinking demographic in Texas, many will be flippable by 2030. Maybe even in the 2024 election. We cannot let them go unopposed.

In 2024, there are three Democrats up for re-election on the SBOE and four Republicans. We need to make sure the Democrats hold their seats and focus on the four Republicans. None of them have challengers yet. We only need to flip three seats to change the entire direction of education in Texas.

Here is where we need candidates:

SBOE10 - Tom Maynard (R).

It’s been a while, but I’ve written about Maynard before. Tom Maynard is ultra-religious, spends his free time at pro-life rallies, tells his own unique version of history, and celebrates genocide.

Maynard has been on the SBOE since 2013, a full decade, and since has done an unspeakable amount of damage to Texas’ education curriculum. There are 27 counties in SBOE10, and undoubtedly, somewhere, a passionate and dedicated educator would be perfect to take him on. Maynard does not yet have a challenger.

SBOE11 - Patricia Hardy (R).

Pat Hardy has been sitting on the SBOE for 20 years, since 2003. That means that every stupid decision and far-right rewriting of history over the last two decades has included Pat Hardy.

While her district is absurdly gerrymandered like the rest of the, her district also includes urban populations that would be served well to get rid of her. I saw a video of her a few years back speaking against Black Lives Matter and insinuating that they don’t. Hardy does not yet have a challenger.

SBOE12 - Pam Little (R).

This week, after contributing to the removal of climate change from Texas science books, Pam Little took to Facebook and called it a balanced approach.

You may say she’s being dishonest, I say she’s a liar, but to each their own. Little brags about being a Conservative, which means “attempting to conserve.” What does she want to conserve? The poisoning of the people in Texas through fossil fuels.

Little does not yet have a challenger.

SBOE15 - Adam Kinsey (R).

Adam Kinsey is the new kid on the block. He’s only been in office for one term, and he is the worst. He spews racism on his website, stating that he’s standing up against so-called “Critical Race Theory,” or as the rest of us call it, “Black history.”

That alone should have made him disqualified for office. Yet, here we are.

Kinsey does not yet have a challenger.

What kind of Democrats do we need running in these four seats against regressive Republicans?

If you or you know someone in any of the counties shown in the maps above, a perfect Democratic candidate would be:

• A long-time educator.

• A current member of an ISD Board.

• Interested in making Texas a better place.

• Passionate about education.

There are 20 days left until the filing deadline, so it’s crunch time. Please make sure to share this with qualified and interested people you might know.

Blue Horizons Texas is offering filing fee grants to Democrats running for Texas State Board of Education. You can fill out that application here (or pass it on).

Here are some more resources to help you get started:

• The Texas Democratic Party’s new program for training and candidate resources is Lone Star Rising.

• If you’re young and progressive (I love you), Run For Something will help you with all stages of your campaign.

• Blue Horizons Texas will help you every step of the way if you’re considering running in a red or rural district.

• If you’re a member of the LGBTQ community, make sure to reach out to the LGBTQ+ Victory Fund.

• Are you a woman? You can get help running for office from Emily’s List.

• And as soon as possible, contact your County Party to get them on board with your campaign.

Even if running for office isn’t something for you, share this because perhaps someone you know was considering this. We can flip Texas, but it will take all of us. Voter turnout is the most important thing, but we have to have the candidates for voters to vote for in the first place. Let’s do this!

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