Broward Voters Reject Moms for Liberty-Backed School Board Candidates

The ballot featured a slew of candidates backed by Governor DeSantis and the local chapter of the far-right Moms for Liberty.

By Alex DeLuca

August 21, 2024

Photo by Octavio Jones/Getty Images

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Broward County voters have rejected a slate of school board candidates backed by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis and the so-called "parental rights" group Moms for Liberty in the August 20 elections.

In Tuesday's primary, as Florida school districts face culture wars marked by book-banning campaigns, attacks on diversity programs, and increasingly restrictive "Don't Say Gay" laws, residents in liberal-leaning Broward County voted on the future of their county's school board, which manages the sixth-largest school system in the nation.

Notably, the ballot featured a slew of candidates backed by DeSantis and the local chapter of Moms for Liberty, a far-right group notorious for spreading QAnon-adjacent conspiracy theories and labeled by the Southern Poverty Law Center as an "antigovernment extremist organization."

Here's how the Broward County School Board is shaping up post-election:

District 1
Longtime attorney Maura McCarthy Bulman defeated educator Chris Canter and Daniel Penha Foganholi Sr., the latter of whom received support from Moms for Liberty ahead of the election. Bulman won with 51 percent of the vote, while Canter received about 28 percent and Foganholi Sr. just under 20 percent.

District 2
Former social worker Rebecca Thompson beat Torey Alston, a former Broward County commissioner whose seat was up for grabs this year after DeSantis appointed him to the seat in 2021. Alston was one of several candidates informally endorsed by Moms for Liberty ahead of the election. Thompson received more than 66 percent of the vote.

District 3
Incumbent school board member Sarah Leonardi defeated U.S. Army veteran Jason Lee Loring, who received a nod of support from Moms for Liberty ahead of the election. Leonardi received 70 percent of the vote.

District 5
Incumbent Jeff Holness retained his seat, defeating Moms for Liberty-backed Windsor D. Ferguson with more than 75 percent of the vote.

District 9 (at-large)
Longtime school board member Debra "Debbi" Hixon, wife of the late Chris Hixon, an athletic director who was killed during the 2018 Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting, retained her seat — easily beating Moms for Liberty-backed candidate Thomas Vasquez with more than 70 percent of the vote.

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Alex DeLuca is a Miami New Times staff writer who focuses on news, crime, and public safety, education, and cannabis. Prior to joining New Times in June 2020, Alex worked for the South Florida Sun Sentinel and freelanced for The Appeal. She holds a bachelor's degree from the College of Journalism and Communications at the University of Florida.

Contact: Alex DeLuca

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Twitter: @alexldeluca