Voters chose candidates endorsed by Gov. Ron DeSantis for seats on the nonpartisan Duval County School Board after a campaign steeped in partisan culture wars.
The victory of newcomer April Carney in School Board District 2 and reelection of Charlotte Joyce in District 6 was celebrated as evidence that “parents from across Duval County made their voices heard” by the Duval County Republican Party.
“These victories officially FLIP the School Board to majority registered Republicans 4-3. More importantly it rejects the WOKE indoctrination, sexualization, and Marxist policies that have been allowed to occur and puts the power back into the hands of PARENTS!” the party exulted in an emailed statement.
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“Furthermore, the Republican Party of Duval County expects our Republican majority to GOVERN like Republicans! We must protect our kids,” the statement continued, “defend parental rights and push back against woke indoctrination!”
Carney, who had reached national audiences during friendly interviews on Fox News and the podcast of former Trump administration adviser Steve Bannon, had been reviled as “too dangerous for our children” in a video circulated online by the Duval County Democratic Party.
A mailer from a political committee asked where Carney had been during the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol after social media spread screen grabs seeming to show her declaring “I was there.”
Campaign spokesmen said the screen grabs were fake but neither the candidate nor the campaign addressed questions about her whereabouts.
Carney, an interior designer, called herself a “common sense conservative who believes in a robust education that focuses on literacy and math, not activism and agendas.”
She challenged Andersen, a former English teacher and a licensed mental health counselor, drawing support from a series of Republican politicians and groups including Moms for Liberty, whose Duval County chapter has described itself as “dedicated to the survival of America by unifying, educating and empowering parents to defend their parental rights.”
DeSantis, widely thought to be eyeing a bid for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, endorsed Carney in June.
Andersen, a former board chair, told voters she was troubled by the campaign’s partisan tenor, and said board members need to work independently of party loyalties.
“We want people who are going to be working together for the good of our students, that put kids first and not Washington-style party politics,” Andersen said during a forum organized by the Jacksonville Public Education Fund.
DeSantis, who has been prominent in the state’s culture wars, also endorsed Joyce, the District 6 member who in April sponsored a resolution supporting the state’s controversial Parental Rights in Education Act.
Joyce, a former teacher and magnet school coordinator, was challenged by Tanya Hardaker, a former accountant who became active in parent and school-support organizations while raising seven children in the Duval school system.
“I want the highest quality schools available for my children, as well as for every parent, in every ZIP code,” Hardaker said about her candidacy.
She said she’d focus efforts as a school board member on improving student reading, safety and students’ social and mental health. She said she’d help ensure tax money is used well and transparently.
School Board Chairman Darryl Willie had already retained his District 4 seat when he faced no opposition to his reelection.
The members will be sworn into new four-year terms during a School Board meeting in November.
