How will voters react to Moms for Liberty candidates in the Duval School Board election?
Two years after Moms for Liberty’s activism helped remake school boards around Florida, Duval County voters are weighing whether to continue that change.
But this time critics are delivering pushback that didn’t materialize in 2022.
“Don’t Let Moms for Liberty Control Our School Board,” the Duval County Democratic Party tells visitors to a part of its website listing candidates for Tuesday’s primary election.
A graphic labeled “The Wrong Choice!” shows photos of four candidates supported by the conservative parents-rights group alongside thumbs-down logos, while one labeled “The Right Choice!” carries photos of candidates described as “public school defenders.”Because the four School Board seats on the ballot are nonpartisan, any voter in Districts 1, 3, 5 or 7, including independents, can vote for any candidate regardless of party affiliations. At least three School Board races involve just two candidates each and will be decided by the primary vote, although a three-way race in District 5 might continue into November.
Although party membership isn't listed on School Board ballots, Democrats recruited phone bank volunteers to seek support for three candidates — Nadine Ebri, Hank Rogers and Sarah Mannion — and to canvass door-to-door in some areas.
The District 3 contest involving School Board incumbent Cindy Pearson and former Moms for Liberty county chair Rebecca Nathanson, is between two Republicans.
Moms for Liberty describes itself as nonpartisan, but Duval Democrats’ Chair Daniel Henry said his group “could never support” a candidate aligned with Moms for Liberty.
“Their values are antithetical to the Democratic Party,” Henry said, citing debates about removal of books from school libraries, health education and “wokeness” issues prioritized by Gov. Ron DeSantis.
There are garssroots opponents, too. When Tropical Storm Debby was steering rain through Northeast Florida, members of Public School Defenders of Duval County carried signs outside the school district headquarters with messages like "Keep M4L Book Banners Off Our Board."
Most voters didn’t share those concerns in 2022, when Moms for Liberty touted an 80% win rate for its endorsed candidates in Florida and 50% nationally. Duval County voters that year chose two board candidates, April Carney and Charlotte Joyce, who are signers of a group pledge to "honor the fundamental rights of parents."
What voters want this year is an open question.
“I think it’s a different electorate in 2024,” said Michael Binder, a University of North Florida political scientist who tracks public sentiment and its impact on election results.
Public fights about books and curriculum may have hurt the group’s appeal, he said, and a sex scandal last year surrounding group co-founder Bridget Ziegler (who had withdrawn from the group earlier with an unblemished name) may have made winning over the public a bigger challenge.
Books are a touchy subject for some voters.
“I hear it from liberal-minded people. ’Oh, so you’re for banning books?’” said Tony Ricardo, who is running with Moms for Liberty support for the board’s District 1 seat representing large areas of North Jacksonville and Arlington. “I’m not for banning books. I’m for keeping inappropriate material out from in front of minors, which is in state law.”
Ricardo, 65, taught art at Andrew Jackson High School in his youth, then spent more than 30 years as a commercial artist.
“I had no ambitions of running for office. I was headed for retirement,” Ricardo said, adding that changed after he saw the public comment part of a November School Board meeting where people objected to a novel involving incest being avaialble in high school libraries.
In the meeting, a succession of speakers read passages out loud from the Ellen Hopkins best-seller Identical, which was praised by critics but had jarring sexual content. After a man continuing the recital was told to stop, he argued he had free-speech rights and was removed from the room by police at the request of the board’s attorney.
“I felt like I had to do something,” said Ricardo.
Last month, Ricardo was endorsed by DeSantis along with Nathanson, Moms for Liberty member and former Duval public school teacher Melody Bolduc and 20 other school board candidates DeSantis tweeted had "pledged to serve with a focus on student success, parental rights, and curriculum transparency." DeSantis last year identified Pearson as an incumbent he wanted replaced.