Governor Ron DeSantis said he’s still considering whether to back candidates financially in their run-off races for school board seats in Central Florida.
His comments came on his visit Thursday to Brevard County, the site of one of these runoff election races.
Five Central Florida county school board races will be decided by runoff elections in November, including in two counties where DeSantis endorsed candidates, Volusia and Brevard.
Governor Ron DeSantis said he’s still weighing whether to put more money behind the candidates in terms of advertising, and other voter outreach efforts.
DeSantis feels confident his pick, incumbent school board member Matt Susin, can win in Brevard.
“One candidate believes in the students before the school union, believes that parents’ rights should be respected, and that you should not use schools to indoctrinate,” said DeSantis. “You should focus on education. If every voter knows that, then, then that candidate's going to win.”
DeSantis said he was able to stump for candidates more in 2022, when the picks he endorsed were more successful, but this year he’s simply been too busy.
“I've got all these other things I've got to do. I'm raising money for the super PAC, helping Trump against Harris. I've got stuff that we're doing with the legislature. I've got, these amendments that they're doing. So we're doing a lot of different things,” said DeSantis.
The governor also pulled out of his bid for the White House in January of this year, after campaigning across the country in the fall and winter months.
The Florida Education Association said voters' rejection of DeSantis’ picks for school board shows a pushback against the governor’s conservative agenda.
“Voters have spoken, and they firmly stand behind candidates who support neighborhood public schools,” the state’s largest teachers union said in a statement.
DeSantis-backed Brevard School Board candidate Matt Susin will face off against Avanese Taylor in the general election. His pick for Volusia County School Board, Donna Brosemer, will face off against incumbent Carl Persis.
At least 11 candidates DeSantis endorsed lost their bid for school board in the August primaries in Florida. Only six candidates he backed won their races.
In comparison, 19 of DeSantis’ endorsements for school board races in Central Florida won during the 2022 primaries.
