Moms for Liberty Are Primed For Elections

Moms for Liberty have not been shy about their intentions. Here's co-founder Tiffany Justice on Steve Bannon's show: 

BANNON: Are we going to start taking over the school boards?

JUSTICE: Absolutely. We're going to take over the school boards, but that's not enough. Once we replace the school boards, what we need to do is we need to have search firms, that are conservative search firms, that help us to find new educational leaders, because parents are going to get in there and they're going to want to fire everyone. What else needs to happen? We need good school board training. We need lawyers to stand up in their communities and be advocates for parents and be advocates for school board members who are bucking the system. Right now, parents have no recourse within any public education district.

This is not new. It's worth remembering that there was a third co-founder, Bridget Ziegler, who has since quietly stepped back, perhaps because her husband Christian is an obvious tie to the GOP political machinery. Back in October of 2021, Christian Ziegler told the Washington Post

I have been trying for a dozen years to get 20- and 30-year-old females involved with the Republican Party, and it was a heavy lift to get that demographic. But now Moms for Liberty has done it for me.

So there's no secret here. 

M4L has a different structure from traditional astro-turf groups like Parents Defending Education, which is a group of seasoned professional operatives with no real presence on the ground. M4L is more reminiscent of the Tea Party's early days--a combination of deep pockets and savvy leaders and a web of local groups of aggrieved moms. Traditional astro-turf is some folks in an office somewhere with a little has flame on a desk and the assertion that the flame is burning everywhere. The M4L/Tea Party model is about finding the places where there are sparks smoldering, and getting gasoline to those folks. 

So M4L is unloading some more election time gasoline. For example, on September 24, in Des Plaines, IL, they'll be presenting a Campaign Management Workshop to teach attendees (who will pay a nominal fee of $25) how to develop campaign strategy, research the district, conduct voter outreach, create a campaign organization and (my fave) hire and fire staff and consultants.

The workshop is being run by the Leadership Institute, an organization founded in 1979 by Morton Blackwell, a professional conservative activist.  How conservative? In 1964 he was the youngest Goldwater delegate at the GOP convention. He was a special assistant to Reagan. In 2016, he won the second Phyllis Schlafly Award for Excellence in Leadership. He's held all manner of GOP party office. The Leadership Institute has been recruiting and training conservative activists, politicians, and journalists for over 40 years. They are connected to the State Policy Network. 

M4L is feeling its oats after some victories in Florida's school board elections and they clearly have no intention of stopping there. 

Thay're advocating for their position, which is what advocacy groups do. But let this post serve as a reminder; if these folks are active in your area, they will be active in your school board elections. You may be used to quiet, sleepy school board elections in which candidates spend $50 and do little campaigning. But these are not ordinary times. These kind of conservative drives can be defeated, and have been in many places, but it takes hard work and selling your message. 

If you're looking to elect supporters of public education, be prepared. It will not be easy this time.