On Tuesday, Voters Rejected Moms for Liberty and Its Agenda of Cruelty and Hate

NATIONWIDE—In red, blue, and purple states, voters across the country sent a clear and convincing message Tuesday rejecting an extremist education agenda, which censors our history, bans books, harms our students, stigmatizes trans students, LGBTQIA+ students, and educators, and students with LGBTQIA+ parents, and would give future generations fewer rights than their parents had. Across the country, voters supported candidates running to strengthen public schools, get our students the support and resources they need, address educator shortages, ensure our children don’t have fewer rights than we did, and keep students safe from gun violence. This election should fully and permanently retire the myth that rightwing hate groups like Moms for Liberty represent this country’s moms or parents, or that we want the candidates they support to run our school systems or our schools. We do not. And we, together, representing tens of millions of voters, intend to continue fighting back until our schools are strong and secure for all students.

• “Yesterday, voters across the country had an opportunity to vote for the health and wellbeing of our students and democracy. And their votes sent a resounding message - we don’t like political interference when it comes to our kids. Parents fought for their children and won. Yesterday’s results shined a spotlight on the candidates who ran for the wrong reasons, and politicians should take notice. Let’s continue to put the right people in place for the job and fight for family and community voices to be the driving force behind transforming education.” - Heather Harding, Ed.D, Executive Director of the Campaign for Our Shared Future
   
• "This week, voters sent a clear message that they value candidates who are working hard to provide families with the tools and opportunities they need to build a good life. Across the country, voters rejected candidates up and down the ballot who were determined to take away rights and freedoms and instead embraced candidates who will fight for what families really need. This week’s results mean that families and kids across the country are better off, full stop." – Sondra Goldschein, Executive Director of the Campaign for a Family Friendly Economy PAC
   
• Lawmakers aren’t afraid of mothers as voters, but they will be. Last night’s victories should sound an alarm that women and mothers are paying attention and voting according to interest. As we say at the Chamber of Mothers: moms brought every lawmaker into this world, and we can vote them out. - Erin Erenberg CEO Chamber of Mothers
   
• Tuesday’s victories send a clear message: extremism may win attention, but equality and freedom win elections. As they have time and again, voters once again made clear that politicians hellbent on stripping away our freedoms and basic civil rights will fail. HRC was proud to endorse pro-equality champions across the country and have staff and volunteers on the ground to mobilize Equality Voters in Virginia and Ohio. Make no mistake – equality won at the ballot box. - Human Rights Campaign President Kelley Robinson
   
• “In Tuesday’s election, voters across the country stood up for kids and repudiated Moms for Liberty and its bigoted agenda of book bans, discrimination, and taking away our choices. Let’s be clear: Moms for Liberty has never represented America’s mothers and families – and its effort to ‘mom-wash’ an agenda of hate is failing. Moms want to ensure future generations won't have fewer rights than we did. Moms want thriving schools that welcome all children, teach accurate history, and reject censorship, book bans, and attacks on students and educators. Moms want real investments in their families. We want an agenda that creates more affordable, high-quality child care and expands paid family and medical leave. At MomsRising, an organization of over a million members, with members in every state, we saw mom voters fired up to vote; we ran a direct mail, texting and phone program to let Ohio moms who are infrequent voters know when and where to vote – and they responded!  America’s moms are fired up to protect our children and communities from hate and harm.”  - Kristin Rowe-Finkbeiner, MomsRising
   
• “The conservative extremists who’ve been hijacking local school board elections failed to make the grade in this election--candidates endorsed by Moms for Liberty and the 1776 Project lost 8 out of 10 races on Tuesday. These results show when we center kids, voters will turn out to protect kids.  NOW congratulates the grassroots activists and dedicated educators who are leading the charge to make education safe, equitable, and honest.”- Christian F. Nunes, National Organization for Women (NOW)
   
• “Across America most of us want the same thing, thriving communities with good jobs and strong public schools where all students – across race, place, and background - have the resources and opportunities to grow into their full brilliance. In yesterday’s elections, across red states and blue states and in urban, suburban and rural communities, parents and grandparents turned out in large numbers to support pro-public education candidates up and down the ballot. Voters rewarded candidates who articulated a clear, positive message about public education. They supported leaders who have focused on investing in our schools, partnering with educators and parents to help all students, and supporting working families. Conversely, parents and voters explicitly rejected extreme politicians who engaged in the politics of division, politicizing our classrooms, banning books, dragging their culture wars into our public schools, and pushing failed privatization schemes,” - National Education Association President Becky Pringle
   
• “This week, voters showed up to demand freedom, inclusion, and the right to make their own decisions and control their own lives. They rejected divisive attacks on LGBTQI+ children and adults. They refused to accept efforts to turn local school boards into weapons of hate and misinformation.  And they reminded us yet again that protecting abortion is a winning issue. This was a gender justice election and a demonstration of our collective power to come together to build something better.” - Fatima Goss Graves, president of the National Women’s Law Center Action Fund
   
• “On Election Day, we saw the GOP’s strategy on full display: target parent voters with a false narrative about ‘parental rights’ that hinges on a manufactured sense of distrust, chaos, and loss of control that Republicans themselves have created to stoke fear in parents - and we saw that agenda fail. From Ohio to Virginia to Kentucky and beyond, voters saw the GOP’s emphasis on education and parental rights as exactly what it is: an attempt to distract from their extreme and unpopular agenda.” - Alien Arreaza, ParentsTogether Action
   
• “Red Wine & Blue’s local mom-led team organized with moms on the ground to stop 131 extremist school board candidates from taking over key school boards across our target states, including 25 in Ohio, 14 in Pennsylvania, and 7 in Virginia. We successfully defeated 73% of school board extremists in Ohio and Pennsylvania. Ballots are still being counted in Virginia, but extremists have lost 75% of the races that have already been called. Don’t mess with mainstream moms - when we organize, we win and we’re not going anywhere. We see through the “parental rights” BS and we are the majority.” - Katie Paris, Red Wine & Blue Founder
   
• “These results underline what families have been telling us for the last two years: They don’t want culture wars; they want safe and welcoming public schools where their kids can recover and thrive. Where extremists peddled fear, voters wanted hope. Where extremists tried to smear and divide, voters demanded real solutions. Voters want government to support them, not ban books, censor history or limit their reproductive choices. They want public schools strengthened. They want good jobs, higher wages, lower costs and investments in transport and infrastructure. They reject division and want to seize the future together. Voters saw the extremists for who they were, despite the massive investment from Betsy DeVos, Glenn Youngkin and other deep-pocketed donors. From Virginia, to Pennsylvania, to Kentucky, to Wichita, Kansas, and beyond, we supported candidates with a vision to tackle learning loss, loneliness and literacy, boost critical thinking, teach honest history and hone practical skills. The reality is that the culture war agenda is toxic and hurtful, and that voters agree that the path to a brighter future for kids and families runs through the nation’s communities and public schools. That’s the message from last night. Now it’s time to get to work and provide real solutions for kids and communities to help our kids and families thrive, not smears, divisiveness and fear.” - American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten
   
• “Voters in Virginia sent a clear message opposing classroom censorship and discrimination by electing school board members who will stop banning books and ensure all students have the right to learn. Schools should embrace the value of diversity which is why we will continue to fight to protect LGBTQ students and prevent curriculum censorship.” - Deirdre Schifeling, chief political and advocacy officer, American Civil Liberties Union
• “There are days when it feels like the loudest voices are those who want to attack education. The results of Tuesday’s election, however, make it overwhelmingly clear that oppressive groups like Moms for Liberty only represent a small minority and do not reflect the views of parents across the country. Voters rejected book bans, attacks on our teachers, and dangerous policies that threaten our children's autonomy and very right to exist as they are. Parents want our kids to learn in a supportive environment that allows them to have a bright future and to thrive. Extremists have shown time and again that they do not act in the best interest of our kids, and they are paying the price at the ballot box. Vote Mama is proud to have supported winning candidates in Ohio and Pennsylvania that ran on platforms of acceptance and decency. These victories against Moms for Liberty candidates confirm that our movement is strong, and that there is no stopping moms who are fighting for the education that our kids deserve.” — Liuba Grechen Shirley, Vote Mama Founder and CEO