Jenkins 'toying' with idea of 2024 run after DeSantis announces school board target list
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The 2022 November election changed the makeup of Brevard’s school board from a mix of party affiliations to almost entirely conservative save for one member: Jennifer Jenkins.
Megan Wright, one of the three members elected, was backed by Gov. Ron DeSantis. Both she and Gene Trent were also endorsed by Moms for Liberty, a national conservative parents group founded in Brevard County.
This week, DeSantis announced the creation of a target list for 2024 to remove the last remaining liberal-leaning members on school boards around the state. Jenkins was on the list.
Jenkins, who ran against and beat then-school board member Tina Descovich in the 2020 election for the District 3 school board seat, has said publicly she would serve only one term. However, DeSantis’ announcement has her “toying” with the idea of running again, she said.
“I just think what an example I can show my daughter of, you know what? Forget it. You want to come at me? I’ll fight you right back,” she said.
DeSantis made the announcement during a strategy session Tuesday with Florida House Speaker Paul Renner, Florida GOP Chairman Christian Ziegler, and Descovich and Tiffany Justice, co-founders of Moms for Liberty. The list included Jenkins and 13 other school board members across the state who DeSantis said don’t protect parents' rights and don’t shield students from “woke” ideologies.
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Jenkins is often the only dissenting voice when it comes to Brevard School Board discussions, with the conservative majority comprised of registered Republicans: Board Chair Matt Susin, Gene Trent, Katye Campbell and Megan Wright. Jenkins is the only registered Democrat.
Jenkins and Campbell were the only members who spoke against the removal of then-Superintendent Mark Mullins in November at the first meeting following the election of the new board.
Even before the election, Jenkins was regarded as the most liberal-leaning board member, often speaking in favor of LGBTQ student rights and COVID-19 mitigation efforts.
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DeSantis’ Tuesday announcement made Jenkins laugh, she said.
“I mean, thank you for thinking so highly of me, I guess, for you to spend your time, energy and resources in a super majority Republican district against a member who’s on a super majority Republican board already. It tells me that you’re intimidated by me, so I guess I should be flattered,” she said.
Though she eventually found humor in the announcement, the wording DeSantis used initially made her uncomfortable, she said.
“There is another part of me, though, when I first saw it, that was a little infuriating because I thought, 'What a really ignorant choice of words,'" she said. “My life has been actually threatened; my child has been threatened. To put it out into the universe as like a target or a hit list — that pissed me off.”
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School board races have been nonpartisan since 1998. But efforts are underway in the state Legislature to change that and make them partisan, which would require a constitutional amendment.
In addition to Jenkins, DeSantis said he will target school board members in Sarasota, Duval, Hillsborough, Indian River, Miami-Dade, Pinellas and Volusia counties, according to a report from Fox News.
Ron DeSantis' school board target list
Here is the full list of Florida school board members DeSantis named.
Duval County
Kelly Coker and Cindy Pearson
Hillsborough County
Nadia Combs and Jessica Vaughn
Indian River County
Peggy Jones and Brian Barefoot
Miami-Dade County
Luisa Santos
Pinellas County
Laura Hine and Eileen Long
St. Lucie County
Jack Kelly
Volusia County
Anita Burnette and Carl Persis
Sarasota County
Tom Edwards
Brevard County
Jennifer Jenkins
Finch Walker is the education reporter at FLORIDA TODAY. Contact Walker at 321-290-4744 or fwalker@floridatoday.com. Twitter: @_finchwalker.
This article originally appeared on Florida Today: Jennifer Jenkins makes DeSantis' target list of school board members
