Races reflected state’s politics
When Sarah Fishering won her Montrose school board seat in 2017, the race was hard-fought but always collegial. She and her opponent jokingly referred to each other as running mates because they spent so much time together at forums and events.
Fishering spent $115 on her campaign. One of her more extravagant expenditures was twosided printing so she could put a children’s worksheet on a campaign flier.
This year felt much different. A Gop-sponsored candidate forum seemed designed to favor a conservative slate of challengers pledging to uphold traditional moral values, Fishering said. Her opponent from that slate raised more than $1,000, so Fishering overcame her discomfort and asked supporters for money, too.
Around the country, school board elections saw a surge of interest and spending, much of it tied to hot-button issues like masks in schools and the teaching of race and American history — and Colorado was no exception. Political observers and education advocates watched to see if a conservative parent backlash would upset the status quo.
Nearly week after Election Day, it is clear that did not happen. While conservative slates dominated in districts that already leaned conservative and
Republican, teachers unionbacked candidates advocating for progressive values won not only in Democratic strongholds but also in many politically mixed areas that swing back and forth along partisan lines.
More moderate candidates even came out ahead in heavily Republican Montrose County, where Fishering won re-election alongside a like-minded ally. Another incumbent may be headed to a recount.
“It’s a mixed set of results, and that makes sense given that these are by definition really local political races,” said Anand Sokhey, an associate professor of political science at the University of Colorado Boulder. “In the places where you see more conservative politics emerge anyway, you saw a more conservative trend. In other places, you saw contentious school board meetings and energized races, but the teachersupported candidates still prevailed.”
School board races are technically nonpartisan, but this year local Republican and Democratic parties endorsed candidates and steered money their way.
How people feel about the risk of COVID-19 and how hard schools should work to prevent transmission largely breaks down along partisan lines. The same is true for ideas about curriculum and how race and history should be taught, often lumped under the umbrella of critical race theory, an approach developed by legal scholars that looks at how laws and institutions perpetuate systemic racism.
Those factors largely explain this year’s school election results, said Ryan Winger, director of data analysis and campaign strategy at Magellan Strategies, a Republican polling firm.
“The nature of these school board races became incredibly partisan, and that’s largely due to how the school boards handled COVID, as well as these pockets where you have conversations about critical race theory or curriculum,” Winger said.
Conservative slates — candidates who ran on parents having more say in education, against mask and vaccine requirements, and against critical race theory — dominated in parts of the state that already were conservative. Such candidates won in Douglas County, Mesa County, Colorado Springs and Greeley, and picked up seats in Adams 12 in the Denver suburbs and in the Brightonbased 27J district.
But in more Democratic-leaning and politically mixed areas — Jefferson County, Cherry Creek, Aurora, Poudre, Littleton and St. Vrain — teachers union-backed candidates who favor stricter COVID-19 safety protocols and a focus on diversity prevailed.