Fool Me Once…
Got a phone call from the teachers’ union president. Again encouraging me to withdraw from this school board election—how? I’m on the ballot—and run again in 2026. Because “there’s a very good chance” I’d get their endorsement then. But in the meantime, they are so worried about splitting the vote, so worried about the one conservative candidate getting a seat, they don’t want me spoiling it for their two dear candidates. (Again, one of their endorsed candidates is a pastor, so…)
Look, there is only one conservative candidate. Which means that person is going to get ALL the conservative votes. Maybe the union thought running a pastor would grab some of those votes? (Well, there are two seats open, so probably the pastor will get the other conservative votes.) In any case, they’d have had better luck running moderates like me, someone who might offer actual direct competition to a conservative. But whatever.
What hurts most is that I’ve given a lot of time and energy to the schools and the district. And they encouraged me to run and supported me until, suddenly, they didn’t. “I’m sorry this happened,” is what I’ve heard from many of them, but apparently not sorry enough to, you know, do the right thing and support the person you literally brought into the race. It’s like bringing someone to a party and leaving with someone else.
I will not run again. Fool me once, as the saying goes. If they end up with the conservative on the board, they deserve what they get.