DeSantis endorses 5 Tampa Bay school board candidates

Three school board candidates in Pinellas County and two in Hillsborough County can now count Gov. Ron DeSantis among their supporters in the Aug. 20 primary.

In the first of what could be several rounds of endorsements, DeSantis announced his backing of Danielle Marolf, Erika Picard and Stacy Geier in Pinellas, and Layla Collins and Myosha Powell in Hillsborough. With the exception of Geier, who is seeking an open seat, the candidates are challenging incumbents whom the governor targeted for removal more than a year ago.

Overall, DeSantis issued standard statements supporting 23 candidates across the state in the nonpartisan races, spokesperson Taryn Fenske said. In them, he said he wants the best for Florida’s children, and he had confidence that the candidates would build upon the successes the state has seen in areas such as student performance, parental rights and curriculum transparency.

On their Facebook pages, Powell, who is challenging incumbent Jessica Vaughn, and Collins, who is opposing incumbent Nadia Combs, posted quotes from the governor that were identical except for their names.

Marolf, who is seeking to oust Pinellas incumbent Laura Hine, put out a video on Facebook celebrating the endorsement.

“I could not be happier. I am so stoked,” she said. “He knows who the true conservative is in my race, and that is me. ... My values are actually to protect children and make sure that our parents are actually engaged so they have the ability to have parents’ rights.”

Hine said she had never met with DeSantis to discuss the district, but would be happy to do so. In the meantime, she added, the most important endorsement comes from local voters.

“People want a leader who is focused on the work at hand, and not on politics,” Hine said. “They can find that in me.”

The other targeted Pinellas incumbent, Eileen Long said she was not surprised by the move, which came as the first round of absentee ballots is being delivered. She said it’s overreach to have the governor attempt to influence local school boards in such a way.

“I’m not worried,” Long said of Picard’s bid to replace her. “The people of Pinellas County know me. ... He’s not going to ruffle my feathers.”

Hillsborough incumbent Jessica Vaughn said she was disappointed by the governor’s involvement. So many people have spoken of the need to remove politics from education, she said, yet DeSantis is doing the opposite.

Vaughn added that it appeared that the generic message that DeSantis issued on behalf of the candidates did little to explain exactly what they offer to the community.

“It doesn’t help me understand why people should support (her opponent) for this role, except for it’s what the governor said,” Vaughn said.

DeSantis also issued school board endorsements in 2022, saying more attention needed to be paid to the local races. At the time, it was viewed as an unprecedented step by a Florida governor.