In school board races in Bucks County, PA, and across the country, Republicans ran the same old playbook they have for years, focusing solely on culture wars, while Democrats focused on improving educational outcomes and making quality schooling more affordable. 

The results were a clean sweep — Democrats cemented a 9-0 majority on the Central Bucks County School Board and won several competitive school board races in other districts and states. 

Affordability and supporting our children’s learning will be on the ballot next November, and Democrats will continue to fight for working families across the country. 

Read more below: 

NOTUS: Democrats Think This Year’s School Board Elections Could Be Good News for the Midterms

By Avani Kalra

• Central Bucks School District in Pennsylvania was once considered the epicenter of the classroom culture wars. In recent years, it banned books, prohibited pride flags in classrooms and implemented a gender identification process that required teachers to only use names and pronouns listed in official school databases, even if a student requested otherwise.

• But in little-noticed school board elections earlier this month, voters rebuked those decisions by electing four Democrat-endorsed candidates and, in the process, cemented a 9-0 liberal majority on the board. While Democrats previously held the majority, the gains for full control of the board showed a vote of confidence from constituents.

• Central Bucks, located in a county that elected Republican Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick and won by President Donald Trump in 2024, was part of a larger Democratic sweep of school board elections across the country this November. …
  
• Democrats hope to hold onto those gains and reverse policies implemented by conservative-majority school boards over the past five years.

• “You’ve never had the wholesale flip of a school board like this, in one of the most conservative areas in central Pennsylvania,” said Malcolm Kenyatta, vice chair at the Democratic National Committee and a Pennsylvania state representative.

• “[The results] speak to Democrats’ commitments that our school boards should not be political battlefields,” Kenyatta said. “Winning campaigns are those that focus on answering that question of how we make people’s lives better.”

• Mekkai Williams, who won his bid for a Hempfield school board seat southwest of Central Bucks in Pennsylvania earlier this month, said voters in his district were concerned about the cost of living this election cycle. Williams ran on implementing full-day kindergarten in an area where parents are struggling to pay for childcare.

• “Childcare is extremely expensive now, and it shouldn’t be on the family to have to choose between sending their child to school or trying to figure out how to pay the bills,” Williams said.