Political Notebook: Purple for Parents fell short in Tucson-area school board races

Right-wing personality Steve Bannon declared last year that “the path to save the nation is very simple – it’s going to go through the school boards.”

But the far-right candidates aiming to take over Tucson-area school boards had a pretty unsuccessful election this year — failing specifically in the school district where Bannon now owns an Oro Valley home.

In that district, Amphitheater, incumbents Susan Zibrat and Matt Kopec defeated challengers Mona Gibson and Jeff Utsch, who were endorsed by Purple for Parents, the group trying to make Bannon’s vision a reality in Arizona. The margins of defeat were substantial: 4.5 percentage points for Gibson and 8 percentage points for Utsch.

Overall, in Tucson-area school board elections, three candidates endorsed by Purple for Parents won. Nine of them, like Gibson and Utsch, lost.

The most surprising victory was in the Tucson Unified School District, a traditionally Democratic stronghold (despite the nonpartisan nature of school board races), where Val Romero took second place in the voting behind Jennifer Eckstrom, winning a seat. In 2021, Romero ran as an independent in the Ward 6 Tucson City Council race, losing to incumbent Democrat Steve Kozachik.

Romero said name identification likely played a role in his victory, as he ran for City Council in 2021 and re-used the same campaign signs, simply slapping a “for TUSD” sticker on them.

“I went from the City Council into the school board race, so it was almost two years of campaigning,” he said.

In the Catalina Foothills school board race, there was a hotly fought campaign between three Purple for Parents-aligned challengers and two incumbents who joined a newcomer to form their own slate. The outcome, though, was not close.

Amy Krauss, Amy Bhola and Gina Mehmert beat their conservative challengers, William Morgan, Grace Jasin and Bart Pemberton, by a minimum of 11 percentage points.

Even in Vail Unified School District, the site of angry protests against mask mandates in 2021, the Purple for Parents candidates fell short. Anastasia Tsatsakis and Leroy Smith took third and fourth place in a six-candidate race. The winners were Jennifer Anderson and Edward Buster.

However, in Sahuarita, the results were more what Purple for Parents has been looking for. Raul Rodriguez, who campaigned against “social and emotional learning” (the next line of conflict for those who were angry about “critical race theory”) won handily, defeating, among others, incumbent Kevin Opalka.

In Marana, too, a Purple for Parents candidate won. Incumbent Tom Carlson was the top vote-getter.

So, in southern Arizona at least, this was not the school board revolution that Bannon envisions for the country. They won three races, but they will struggle to form voting majorities on most boards.

RNC member: Get rid of Tucson

The Phoenix guy was just joking, folks. No need to get worked up.

As Republican National Committee member Tyler Bowyer furiously tweeted election complaints in recent days, he sent this one out Tuesday:

“Basically we need to get rid of Tucson.”

Back to homepage

Subscriber Login

Keep reading with a digital access subscription.

Subscribe now

You can imagine the furious response he got from people south of the Gila. One of the respondents, Republican state representative-elect Rachel Jones, posted a teary-faced emoji. In response, Bowyer clarified:

“Just south of Speedway.”

That didn’t make things better. Some now accused him of racism.

Bowyer then drew a map, suggesting that Arizona trade Tucson with Sonora, getting Rocky Point in return.

Eventually, Bowyer, one of three RNC members from Tucson, clarified in a new post: “This is satire, people. For those who can’t laugh.”

Bowyer, who says he is a 7th-generation Arizona, apparently doesn’t know this isn’t the kind of thing Tucsonans laugh about.

Crane embraces Trump now

Fresh off defeating incumbent congressman Tom O’Halleran, a Democrat, U.S. Rep.-election Eli Crane is making a big endorsement, if not a surprising one.

Crane, who benefited from a Donald Trump endorsement in his primary run, has now endorsed Trump in his new presidential run. After Trump’s Tuesday night announcement, Crane posted:

“Great news and congratulations to President Donald Trump. I look forward to supporting your 2024 presidential campaign and Making America Great Again.”

Unexpected introspection

State Sen. Wendy Rogers, known for her embrace of right-wing extremists, said something shocking when interviewed this week about the election results by Charlie Kirk on his online show.

“You know this state really well. You’ve been a grassroots activist for a while,” Kirk said to Rogers. “The vibe on the ground was totally different than this, wasn’t it?”

Rogers responded, “Yes, well, we wonder now if we were in an echo chamber. I don’t know. I’m just beginning to get some perspective.”

Yes, indeed.